Endless Summer: Check Yourself at FWMN Spring 2021
Signs of a pandemic-free summer are all around, and last night’s Fashion Week MN show has us eagerly anticipating sunny days ahead. Sun50’s goal is to raise awareness and help prevent skin cancer, suggesting that wearing clothing is the best way to protect your skin from the sun. Sun50 gets its brand name by creating all of its looks out of UPF50 material, which blocks the skin safely while also keeping it cool. Being sustainable is another thing Sun50 prides itself on, as it is a slow-production fashion brand and 95% of the looks were made on our home turf in Minnesota (with the other 5% produced in sunny California). This is a pretty amazing feat, considering that most fashion companies do not make their clothes in the US, let alone MN.
The show Endless Summer: Check Yourself showcased a spread of tie-dye, country-club, and tropical vintage aesthetics. Each look was paired with a beautifully printed bandana, sunglasses, and stylish sandals. All of the designs featured long sleeves, even including a few tank tops paired with pull-up UPF50 sleeves. Designer Danielle Everine created a whirlwind of button downs, off the shoulder tops, wrap dresses, mini athletic skirts, bomber jackets, and paperbag pants. The color palette ranged from deep denim blue, to black, to bright coral, to funky neon patterns.
A personal favorite look was a blue long sleeve button down shirt, complimented by a blue and teal tropical leaf-patterned scarf that was turned into a mini wrap skirt, fully exposing one thigh. This look was paired with a light purple head scarf, baby blue sunglasses, and black sandals. The loose fit of the shirt complimented the tightness of the skirt perfectly (move over, little shirt big pants). I loved this pastel, cool-toned look, which would be stunning on any skin tone and was very flattering on the model.
The inclusivity and diversity on the runway was refreshing to see. The models in the Endless Summer: Check Yourself runway show represented many ethnicities, ages, and body shapes. Being in the audience, there was a sense of how different it felt from typical runway shows. As we’re all aware of by now, the fashion industry has not been known to champion a wide variety of models on the runway. So bravo, Sun50, cheers to wearing our values and looking good while doing it this summer.