Branding Bonanza

At Wednesday night's Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion, a runway show presented by T-Mobile and BlackBerry showcased the work of six local fashion designers. While working on the event, Gen Art Chicago staffers Carolyn Pelissero, Lauren Hurley, and Marcia Callaghan said that they devoted most of their planning time to securing national sponsors.   

And throughout the cocktail reception, fashion show, and after-party, there was no question about who those sponsors were. Just outside the entrance to a tent spanning Millennium Park's Chase Promenade, Fall Out Boy bassist and Fresh Faces host Pete Wentz conducted interviews and posed for photos in front of a step-and-repeat splashed with T-Mobile and BlackBerry logos.

Inside the tent, an oversize Gen Art gobo illuminated wispy curtains that separated the runway from the cocktail area, where a glowing Lucite bar featured signage devoted to the evening's specialty "Fuzzy Flip" cocktail. The mixture of champagne and peach puree was—the sign pointed out—presented by T-Mobile in honor of a soon-to-be-released BlackBerry Pearl Flip phone.

The hour-long cocktail reception also featured installations devoted to accessories from local designers and Lancome makeup stations. T-Mobile "brand ambassadors" (the company's word) circulated the tightly packed crowd with lit-up trays bearing new phone and BlackBerry models, allowing guests to hold the products and scroll through their features.

Branding carried on at the after-party at XChange West, where featured-sponsor installations ranged from T-Mobile photo booths, which printed out strip photos adorned with the company's logo, to a rotating display of Axe body wash. In a decidedly more unusual installation, models swathed in dresses from designer Kara Saun (of Project Runway fame) stood atop pedestals and held Botox-branded umbrellas. Surrounding signage and pamphlets explained that the Botox in question helps prevent severe underarm sweating. The tie-in? "As a fashion designer, I see firsthand the impact that excessive underam sweating can have on a woman's wardrobe choices," Kara Saun said in the Botox pamphlet.