Tribeza's Fashion Show was the ultimate mixer, attracting well over 300 people last Friday night at the Blanton Museum. During the hour leading up to the show, crafty DIY designers chatted up boutique owners and journalists in the VIP section, while impossibly slim women, wearing everything from vintage hats to shorts and sandals, sipped cocktails under the museum terrace.

We arrived early to sample complimentary hors d'oeurves of the raw-fish variety, prepared by Truluck's, Starlite, Jeffrey's, and other fine Austin restaurants.

"This is like Sam's Club but better!" joked our friend, armed with a cocktail in one hand and a tiny bowl of cold soup topped with caviar in the other. This was the event Tribeza planned for over four months, and the effort showed.

The actual runway show almost went off without a hitch, save for one itty-bitty hiccup in the middle of the show: a group of models were stopped from walking on stage for a minute, as there seemed to be a mix-up with the designs from Girl Next Door and Estilo. After correcting the error and screening an introductory video for Girl Next Door, Estilo models returned to the runway for the second time—to the delight of photographers and avid note-takers.

Otherwise, the leggy models looked professional with their donut buns and fabulous styling. They strutted down the catwalk to up-tempo beats by DJ Manny, sporting fall looks from Estilo, Valentine's Too, Girl Next Door, Keepers, The Garden Room, Fetish and Envie Boutique.

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Two-time Austin Chronicle Best of Austin tattooist (and really badass chick) Karen Slafter is now pumping ink at Resurrection Tattoo on South Lamar at Oltorf. She's got a bigger, private room now with more space to work her painful magic, and the guys and gals at Resurrection make sure the place is uber-clean and always friendly. Long-time Karen customers and tattoo n00bs alike should check her out at the new location. Karen works Mon-Fri 12pm to 8pm.

Check out our original interview with Karen, back in 2005:

...tattoos are a really good social filter. You can find out instantly if someone is the kind of person you want to be friends with. It’s not necessarily that they have tattoos, but they are open-minded, they don’t have a problem letting you express yourself.

[Homepage]

Resurrection Tattoo
2108 D South Lamar
Open Mon-Thurs 12pm to 8pm, Fri-Sat 12pm to 10pm
(512) 851-8288

Photo by Karen Slafter from kali1313.com

• Moxie and the Compound wants to wet your fashion whistle with its own Project Runway-inspired competition. Both Marques Harper and Stephen Moser mentioned they're judging the event. But who do you think promoted it better?

• Remember Factory People, the hip store on South Congress that closed this summer? Of course you do! They're still around, promoting parties and selling their shamelessly cool clothing online. But if you want to see Factory People's latest looks for birds and blokes for fall in 3D, don't miss the Pop Up Store, open from noon to "quite late" this Friday through Monday at their former location. (1325 South Congress)

• Austin designer Malissa Long recently won an international design sketch competition sponsored by BurdaStyle, an open source sewing blog. She's one of Alyson Fox's two pattern makers for her new collection. (By the way, check out Alyson's wicked new website featuring videos of models wearing sweet, fun and futuristic designs from her upcoming line, a small collection.)

• It seems like only yesterday when we wrote about Violet Rouge opening on South Lamar. Sadly, the cute cosmetics boutique is closing its doors on Saturday.

  
  Image by Moxie and the Compound

After a long, hot summer, it’s time to check out Austin’s new fall fashions and get in the mood for shopping. Tribeza’s Fourth Annual Style Week is right around the corner—Wednesday through Sunday, to be exact—and there are plenty of fun events open to the public.

Style Week is kicking off with a happy hour at By George’s South Congress location, where you can nibble on goodies from Cissi’s Market and peruse the flirty fashions.

The Boutique Crawl is a traveling caravan of boutique shoppers taking off at 6 p.m. Thursday. Each shop will have hors d'oeuvres, drinks, prizes, discounts, and live entertainment. The tour spans from North, Central and South Austin, so crawlers can start downtown and make their way to The Domain. Participating boutiques include Peyton’s Place, Adelante, Girl Next Door, Touch of Sass, Soigné, SoLa, Sana, Solid Gold, The Royal Family, Octane, Calypso, Intermix, David Yurman, and Louis Vuitton.

More: TRIBEZA Boutique Crawl 2007

The climax of Style Week is the Fashion Show at the Blanton Museum of Art on Friday. Already a regionally popular fashion event, the runway show spotlights some of the brightest designers in Central Texas and pulls an audience from all over Texas. This year models will wear looks from Envie Boutique, Estilo, Fetish, The Garden Room, Girl Next Door, Keepers, and Valentine’s Too. Buy tickets early and save your spot among Austin’s fashion flock.

Tribeza’s final event is Wedding Day on Sunday at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel. This free extravaganza puts all the best wedding photographers, dress designers, caterers, and event planners in one banquet hall. It’s a one-stop shop for all those gals wanting a perfect dream day.

More: TRIBEZA Wedding Day 2007

Tribeza Annual Style Week
Wednesday, September 19th through
Sunday, September 23rd
[tickets]

Photo by Michael Thad Carter, image from Tribeza site

In April we captured hot local looks for spring, asking local boutique owners to create outfits based on their new stock for the season. We had so much fun doing it that we asked other store owners to come up with cool ensembles for fall.

This time we cast our net a little farther by choosing four old and new boutiques in different regions of Austin: By George on North Lamar, Solid Gold off of East 5th Street, Estilo in the 2nd Street District, and Therapy on South Congress. There were many other places we wanted to include, but we'll just have to wait until next year.

Key trends for Austin include the balloon-look (a more structured take on Spring's maternity tops and dresses), layers, high-waisted and wide-legged pants (though not all body types can pull off the 80's-butt), patterns with a 70’s influence, tweeds and other knits, burnt orange, neutrals, and purple—lots of purple. Also noted: metallic accessories and round-toed flat shoes transferred over from last season.

Enlarged photos with designer and model information are posted after the jump.

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North Austin peeps don't have to go south of Riverside Drive—or even 45th Street—to get their hair cut at Birds Barbershop. A second location recently opened at 6800 Burnet Road.

The new store adheres to co-founders' Michael Portman and Jayson Rapaport's "Walk In, Rock Out" philosophy that inspired the original South Lamar store, providing Lone Star beer and live music entertainment on top of $19 Shortcuts and $39 Ladybirds. Birds North has an outdoor patio, a DJ booth, and a large stage for live performances.

But what sets Birds North apart from its sister-store and other salons in Austin is its old-school arcade theme—apparent from the digital-era murals on the walls to the arcade game in the lobby, featuring 40 classic titles.

"For Jayson and me, some of our fondest memories growing up in Laredo were at this awesome roller rink arcade where we had our birthday parties," said Portman. "When it came time to build the new shop, we brought it all back. New Birds patrons can walk in, rock out and catch a free game of Frogger in the process."

To celebrate their grand opening, haircuts are half-price through Friday.

Even better, Birds North invites Austinist readers to a dance party this weekend: Smoke Machines and Laser Beams. Expect DJ Honeycomb on the turntables and break-dancing by B-Boy City Krew. Remember: You must RSVP if you want to roller boogie!

Smoke Machines and Laser Beams
Saturday, September 8th
9 pm
Birds Barbershop, 6800 Burnet Road
Free, RSVP to laserbeam@birdsbarbershop.com