It will be a scene of pure “champagne and style” when the first-ever Woodstock Fashion Show fills the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts to bring in spring with the latest in ready-to-wear. Seventeen local fashion stores will be represented, with models parading down the catwalk to some specially designed high-energy lights and sounds. You’ll think that you’re in New York City when the red carpet is rolled out and the hors d’oeuvres are passed – except for the possibility of recognizing the models as some of your friends and neighbors. And Lisa Cooper, one-time model for Halston and now a Woodstock resident, will lend her expertise in coordinating the models and the runway action.
The brainchild of Byrdcliffe board members and local real estate agents Laurie Ylvisaker and Joan Lonergan, along with a group of other professional women, “Spring in Bloom” is being produced to benefit the colony’s Artist-in-Residence Program, as well as the many other Byrdcliffe programs that the local community has come to enjoy. The four-month residency season allows artists of all ages to retreat to the hills above the historic village of Woodstock and spend their time in the creation of graphic and visual arts, written work and theater arts. Artists, writers, poets and music composers are supported to discover and hone their talents during monthlong stays.
Byrdcliffe was founded as a Utopian community in 1901 on 1,200 bucolic acres, making Woodstock a Mecca for artists to live and work communally. Today there are 33 of the original 35 Arts-and-Crafts-style buildings set on 250 acres that come alive each summer. Fundraising efforts like Spring in Bloom make scholarship monies available to individual artists, thus fulfilling a primary goal of the colony: to foster and enhance the creative spirit.
Byrdcliffe is looking at an exciting summer for 2012, with a wide variety of arts events on its agenda. What better way to kick off the season than with a luxurious display of fashion artistry? From sleek and colorful biking, hiking and sporting clothing to very trendy and chic apparel for city and country life, the diversity of spring and summer styles will be geared to all ages and fashion tastes. Participating stores include Birchtree, Changes, Dharmaware, DIG, D’VASH, Euphoria Yoga, Illuminated Baby, Lily’s, Loominus, Overlook Mountain Bikes, Pleasures, Pondicherry, Sorella, Vidakafka, Walkabout, Woodstock Design, Woodstock General Supply, Xclusive Boutique and more.
“This fashion show was conceived as ‘win/win’ from the start,” says Ylvisaker. “We really wanted to show off our Woodstock stores, craft-makers and individuals who are the models…And the food and beverage are being donated by restaurants in the area! Yummy!”
Come check your fashion-forward sensibilities against the in-the-know glamoristas. All attendees will receive a discount card that offers a ten-percent discount for one item at each of the participating stores. And a silent auction will feature items from those same stores and more.
The first ever Woodstock “Spring in Bloom” fashion show” is scheduled for Saturday, April 14, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Kleinert James Center for the Arts in Woodstock on 36 Tinker Street. Tickets for this benefit cost $40, or $75 with a Byrdcliffe Soloist membership (a $50 value), and are available through the Byrdcliffe offices at (845) 679-2079 or online at ulsterpub.staging.wpengineguild.org.
Join the family! 
