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Fashion Show

16th Annual Carbondale Fashion Show
March 11-13, 2027 ⁠

An alluring and dynamic extravaganza of a show featuring both local and regional designers and models, dancers and performers with multimedia storytelling.  Transforming the Carbondale Rec Center into a glitzy fashion house, this event sells out annually with 600+ tickets sold per night.  It's not to be missed!

Sponsor the 2027 Fashion Show

This year’s theme, drumroll please….for the 2027 Carbondale Arts Fashion Show, we’re diving into The Labyrinth: Full of twists and turns, obstacles and illusions, a labyrinth is a journey where getting lost is exactly the point. The Labyrinth is a place ominous, absurd, beautiful, funny, disorienting, and wildly imaginative. With puzzles to solve, lies to uncover, strange encounters, cryptic clues, and dead ends, anything could be waiting around the next corner.

 
 

Above edit from the 2023 show “Mirror, Mirror” videography by Jackalope Cinema. More videos from previous shows below!

 

Interested in becoming a co-producer, partner or sponsor?

Participation as a partner puts your name in front of thousands of people, as well as showcases your business year-round at other events such as Carbondale Mountain Fair. It connects you with the important messages of sustainability, creativity and community– messages that are in the forefront of our minds worldwide today.

We invite you, or your company, to be part of this premier valley event in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District by joining with us as a partner. Support our local arts programming with your commitment to us. We welcome the opportunity to meet with your company representatives to further discuss the details.

Proceeds from the show will directly benefit local artists and Carbondale Arts’ programs, which include First Friday, Mountain Fair, the Rosybelle Mobile Maker Bus, and more. For further inquiries, please contact Jamie Abbott at 970-963-1680 or jamie@carbondalearts.com.

What it means to be a sponsor

Get involved by modeling or volunteering at the event

Each year, Carbondale Arts seeks enthusiastic and creative community members, ages 18 to 80+, to be volunteer models. We welcome community members of all ages, all sizes, all ethnicities and orientations. The diversity of our cast is one of the things that makes our show such a special event.

Model commitment consists of Wednesday and Sunday evenings from late January through the first two weeks in March and Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings the week of the show.

Model Auditions:
December 6, 2026
(Registration coming soon!)

Dancer Auditions:
November 15, 2026
(Registration coming soon!)

PSSST…Have you been strutting your stuff in the Fashion Show for 4 or more years? Would you consider taking a year off to make room for new faces and fresh energy on the runway? Self-electing for a “fashion sabbatical” helps us create opportunities for more members of our community to get a moment in the spotlight. We’re so grateful for your continued support and hope you’ll consider cheering us on from the audience, or in another volunteer role, this year!

 

Not quite ready for the catwalk?

This grand and glamorous event needs a whole lot of volunteers leading up to and during the event to make it happen. From ticketing to ushering, hair and makeup, cocktail serving and more, it takes a village to put on this show! Plus, contributing is a great way to see the show for free :)

Volunteer positions sign ups go live the day of public ticket sales (early February, stay tuned!).

Designer Information

  • Clothing must be sustainably created using a combination of ethically sourced, sustainable fabrics, up-cycled, and/or recycled materials made by the applying designer or in a fair trade and/or locally-sourced scenario.

  • This show is rooted in community, celebrates diversity and strives to be broadly inclusive. To this end, Carbondale Arts works with amateur, volunteer models from the community and cares deeply about presenting all bodies types in the fashion show. We strongly encourage that your collection accommodates a range of shapes and sizes. Please consider this in the model sizing section of the application and note if and how you are able to accommodate a range of body types.

  • Please also consider gender inclusivity when describing your collection. You can list in your application the range of genders that you can accommodate, including but not limited to male, female, and gender neutral.

Designer Application (Due Dec. 1)
 
 

Meet the Directors

 
 

Emily Fifer and Meagan Shapiro, photo by Renee Ramge (2025)

The 2027 Fashion Show marks the continuation of a meaningful transition. Founder and Director Amy Kimberly stepped down in 2025, and moved into a mentorship role, supporting Meagan Shapiro and Emily Fifer as the incoming directing team --- and the return of Laura Stover! 

As our beloved event enters a new era, we’re excited to recognize the ongoing and evolving leadership of Laura, Emily, and Meagan – the event is in good hands. All three women have been intimately involved in the show’s creative process and production for many years.

The roots of this show remain intact– with above and beyond generous contributions and collaborations from our community over the years, making it the event the extravaganza we know it to be.

 
 
 

A special thanks to our volunteer photographers!

 

Watch clips from previous shows: They are equally excellent.

 
 

The 2025 Fashion Show is Supported by:

 

Associate Producer

 
 

Sponsorship Partners

 
 

2757 Design Co. | Aquila Cellars | ALEA Group | Barbi Sheffer | Bethel Party Rentals | bldg seed architects | Bom Dia Bubbles | Bonfire Coffee | Carbondale Family Dental | Carly Passchier | Chromatic Ventures | CMC: Soft Goods Manufacturing Program | Coldwell Banker Mason Morse –Gella Sutro + Audrey Imhoff | CoVenture | Dance Initiative | Dos Gringos Burritos & Café | DWC CPAs and Advisors | Granetta Panini | Habitat ReStore of the Roaring Fork Valley | The Home Group | Lipkin Warner Design & Planning | KPCO | LeMieux-Rodman Giving Foundation | NeuroSpa | Diane Oshin | Pan + Fork Supper Club | PC Drew | Peppino’s Pizza | Pete Bellande, Compass | Marble Distilling | Mountain Heart Brewing | Peppino’s Pizza | Pete Ballande Real Estate, Compass | Peter & Mike Gilbert | Phat Thai | Plosky’s Deli | RA Nelson | Robert G Burch - Artist | Sheer Bliss Aspen | Socorro Tequila | SoL Theatre Company | Sopris Liquor & Wine | Sopris Sun | Susie Jimenez Catering | Susie’s at Willits | Third Street Center | Thunder River Theatre Company | Timberline ACE Hardware | Umbrella Roofing | Vista Bank | Woody Creek Distillers | Z Group Architecture + Interior Design