"Alchemy" at the MATCH: Featuring Chester Paul Roberts
One of Houston’s emerging designers- Chester Paul Roberts, held his first fashion show “Alchemy” at the MATCH Theaters recently. I’ve been following Chester’s work for a while, and have especially admired his Wild Poppies mens shirt (which I still want to totally rock) and the Auda(city) skirt. I was excited to finally see his work come to fruition on the runway.
The evening began with an energetic dance performance by James Peachtree (Pitre). Check out a portion of his performance on my Instagram. Chester’s eye-catching menswear collection followed immediately after. The collection was in collaboration with local painter Johnathon Michael Espinoza. Roberts goes on to further explain, “The menswear was especially inspired by Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. He was the mastermind behind an unorthodox movement, but he was good at getting artists to collaborate for a good cause. That’s my focus- to continue to collaborate with different artists from different genres each collection.” The bright collared, button-down, stretch cotton shirts were detailed with patches that were drawn by Espinoza and inspired by the Ballets Russes. The shorts, constructed with stretch denim/denim sateen and cotton/linen-blend faille, were equally uniquely designed.
The short intermission was another dance performance, titled “Brand New Me,” and featured ballet dancer- Zoe Wallace, wearing a dress designed by Roberts and hand-painted by Espinoza. Check out a snippet of the performance on my Instagram.
Following that performance was the womenswear collection presentation. Roberts thought that since the 1970’s era is a huge trend right now (and that it’s also one of his favorite eras), it would be the perfect time to experiment with the idea. A tank featuring the CPR Brand logo in red sequins and a silver grey satin skirt opened the presentation. Further looks were modest and carried a 70s vibe. Roberts used a variety of materials to execute the collection, including: stretch denim, cotton, velvet; as well as sequin and grommet accents. My favorite look was the gold metallic caftan, with its long sleeves and long pussy bow tie- very Studio 54.
Praise God, always his dream from a little boy, my nephew and I'm so proud.