SENSEational! IIDA New England Fashion Show 2015
The IIDA New England Fashion Show is one of the most anticipated industry events of the year. SENSEATION was the theme for the annual event which took place on November 5th at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Bergmeyer took home the Best Interpretation of Theme award for our concept entitled Reminiscent. We would like to thank everyone involved in this year’s efforts! See lots of photos from the event from Kim Neal Photography.
The Concept
Memories triggered by scent have some of the strongest emotional connections and appear more intense than other memory triggers. Human beings associate sounds they hear with intense emotions. Sounds can illicit feelings of anxiety, elation, love, melancholy, and joy. Our senses are filters through which we experience life. Emotional experiences live in our subconscious through sense memory – in a part of our brain where senses and memories are processed and stored — waiting to be triggered by a sight, sound, or scent.
Close your eyes.
Listen.
Inhale.
Be transported.
A personal note of thanks from Matt Hyatt, Principal at Bergmeyer:
Bergmeyer had a record participation level in the office this year with over two dozen Bergies, each contributing well over forty hours of creativity, energy, craftsmanship and teamwork, to create three amazing looks. Our looks earned the judges’ praise in the form of a Best Interpretation of Theme award – that’s nine awards in nine years! (there must be some kind of record with this streak!) The “House of Bergmeyer” is a clearly a fashion show force with which to be reckoned. Special thanks to Stephanie Jones, Krista Easterly and first-time model Erin Reilly for a truly powerful runway performance. With a record 1,500 people in the ballroom that night, these three women sold our looks with poise and attitude. Shout out to Mikala Siciliano and Stephen Muse for grace under pressure, racing to repair a last minute wardrobe malfunction – literally while the models were next in line! And we can’t forget the musical genius of Mike Nevin and the hair and makeup artistry of Paula and Olivia Filippi! Once again, they took our team to new heights. And finally, a HUGE thank you to our partners — Air Esscentials, who provided us with unique scents that complemented our looks and Sam Giordano of American Contractors, who provided us with a ridiculous amount of Barrisol (and glue) and pitched in with fabrication help in the final days. We love these product lines and learned a lot about how to work with each of them in the process.
Amazing work, all!
– Matt
About Our Partners
American Contractors Corp./Barrisol
Every year we search for a material that’s never been seen on the IIDANE runway and one that will challenge our team’s creativity and fabrication abilities. So, when American Contractors, the regional rep for Barrisol, approached us about partnering for this year’s show, we jumped at the chance to work with their unique PVC stretch ceiling material. Their line includes a spectrum of visual and tactile qualities: opaque and translucent, glossy and matte, slippery and soft. It took a lot of trial and error to ultimately get Barrisol to look and move like fabric — and we now understand why installers rely on glue rather than sewing.
Air Esscentials
Ever been in a mall and smelled the Cinnabon buns cooking? You didn’t actually smell buns; you were smelling Cinnabon’s signature scent designed by Air Esscentials. Because Bergmeyer creates a lot of retail environments, we have a deep appreciation for the impact of branded scents on the consumer experience. Air Esscentials introduces scent into a store’s HVAC system, establishing an emotional connection between brand, space, and experience. They were the perfect partner for this year’s SENSEational challenge, supporting each of our three looks with unique scents reminiscent of summer at the beach, a late spring thunderstorm, and flowers blooming at dawn.
