Shades of Gray- Melanie Trygg’s Fashion Preview

By Ross Buchanan and Lauren Sauser

Leading away from the busy sidewalk of 36^th St. in Fremont, the wooden stairway of Studio R began to fill with footsteps. At the counter upstairs, a clutter of wine bottles, event flyers, and jellybeans was already surrounded by the grinning fans of designer Melanie Trygg.

Trygg’s Shades of Gray, hosted July 31 by Studio R, was not the designer’s first experience having her clothes worn down a runway; she did, however, make sure to thank the audience for attending her first “big thing.” The featured models wore designs created by Trygg and sported shoes courtesy of Report Footwear.

The models strutted a T-shaped catwalk, constructed with the help of Trygg’s father, Olof. With the lights lowered and the music cued, Trygg’s friends and family looked on proudly.

“This was my first big show that I produced and designed as an independent designer,” Trygg says. “ I challenged myself to create a polished line and present it in a professionally orchestrated manner.”

At the age of 16, while in high school on Bainbridge Island, Trygg designed a “green” fashion show using recycled materials, the proceeds of which were donated to women in Central Asia. In the years since, she has refined her skill, and her material choices.

“From my fine arts experience, I have gained an ability to more aesthetically translate geometric shapes into beautiful forms on the body,” Trygg says. “ I am also far more conscious of the necessity of a thread of continuity in a line.”

Trygg’s first show was focused on making pieces that looked interesting on the runway out of donated recyclable and renewable materials. After attending the Rhode Island School of Design, the designer’s fashion sense has changed completely; she is concerned with classic lines and the combination of geometric forms with the curves of the female body.

“Variations on a general theme are made possible through fabric choices, cut, and color palette, all things I had personal control over in [The Shades of Gray] show.”

Although her sense of style may have changed since her teenaged years, Trygg’s motivations for designing and giving back to her community have not.

“My greatest concern as an artist, designer, and member of this generation is the sustainability of our various lifestyles,” Trygg says. “Through the use of locally manufactured materials and environmentally sustainable business practices I hope to support a brighter future for the artistic and global community as a whole.”

The proceeds from Trygg’s latest show will go towards a scholarship fund for a student of the arts from Bainbridge Island in 2011.