Events

Hot Couture: A Fusion of Fashion & Fire
January 11 & 12, 2013
Doors at 7pm
Show at 8pm
(Standing room only. No reserved seating.)

Buy Tickets

In celebration of The Crucible’s 14th Anniversary, we are excited to present Hot Couture: A Fusion of Fashion & Fire on January 11 & 12, 2013. Melding high fashion with industrial art, Hot Couture features world-class fire demonstrations, aerial artistry and a blazing showcase of wearable art from Bay Area designers. 

Hot Couture will showcase creations from artist and fashion designers teams producing over 40 design concepts that illlustrate the intersection between fashion, traditional industrial materials and fabrication. Pieces will include a stained glass couture gown, custom corsetry embellished with interactive LED sensors and embedded 3D imagery, and warrior couture with welded steel and embossed leather.

The evening includes a special performance by Heather Katz on a fire-breathing violin constructed by Peter Kropf, accompanied by the dynamic aerial artistry of Rose Nisker. 

Featured design houses and creators include: 

• Alexandria Glowaski
• Annamarta Dostourian (Chris Neimer, Kim Mirus, Laura DuBois, Patricia Natale, Richie Pattison, Veronica Rojas)
• Avant Vouge (Sam Waller, Courtney Pheils, Celeste Flores)
• Bonde (Bonnie Heras), Erin Mahoney & O’Lover Hats (Elwyn Crawford)
• Coyote Counter Collective (Medium Reality, Rachel Lyra Hospodar, Miloh Alexander, Lara Grant, Rachel McConnell, Saan Nti, Sylvia Wood)
• Heather Wakefield (Jennifer Remmers, Krysta Lynn Kober)
• Jeaneen Brunck Designs (Katie Wolfenbarger, Danny Senn)
• Latex Fashionistas
• SENSOREE Design Lab (Kristin Neidlinger, Anthony “Asterisk” Ambuehl, Autumn Adamme, Chris Jefferies, David Dawson, Erik Johnson, Greg Ames, Stefanie Ku)

Bianca Starr Productions is bringing style from within through fashion coordination.

CASS, our official recycling partner and funders of our youth internship program, is the event sponsor for our stage and runway and has supplied forty tons of compacted aluminum for the construction of the stage and runway.

Proceeds from Hot Couture 2013 will benefit The Crucible’s educational programs. 

The Crucible is a nonprofit arts education facility serving more than 5,000 students through youth and adult arts education programs each year with a dedicated mission to Arts, Industry, and Community. Through training in the fine and industrial arts, The Crucible promotes creative expression, reuse of materials, and innovative design, while serving as an accessible arts venue for the general public.

The Crucible, 1260 7th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 [map]

Press contacts: Kristy Alfieri (Education Director) kristy@thecrucible.org / Steven Young (Executive Director) stevenyoung@thecrucible.org / Sarah Dabby (Communications) sdabby@thecrucible.org

Photos from Hot Couture 2008

The Crucible’s Hot Couture 2013 is possible through the generous sponsorship and donations from:

It’s the time of year for giving. As the holidays approach, we are giving our hardworking community an opportunity to give an extraordinary gift to a loved one and receive one as well. We are now offering a Gift and Get promotion.

Now through December 31, 2012, anyone who purchases a Crucible Gift Certificate, class, or membership as a gift gets a voucher of $30 off a class valued at $100 or more for themselves.

Vouchers are made out to the purchaser only, and are non-transferable and not redeemable for cash. This promotion excludes Fun Together classes and cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion. One voucher per person.

Gift Certificates

Gift Certificates can be used for Crucible classes, memberships, and events like The Crucible’s exclusive fire fashion show, Hot Couture. Gift Certificates can only be purchased in person or by phone, and are available in any denomination above $50.

Gift A Class

The Crucible offers an incredible variety of industrial arts classes including blacksmithing, ceramics,fire performance, glass blowing, jewelry, kinetics and electronics, metal fabrication, stone working,wood carving, and more. Classes start for artisans as young as age 8 and offered on weekdays, weekends, and weeklong adventures.

Gift A Membership

Recipients of a Crucible membership enjoy exclusive member benefits including discounts, priority access to classes and events, and special gifts while supporting and raising awareness of industrial arts education in the bay area. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the support of our community to fuel our fires. Membership dues directly subsidize our arts education programs, allowing us to provide free programs for West Oakland youth, develop innovative performances with artists from throughout the Bay Area, and continue to offer the world-class industrial arts education you enjoy.

Something amazing is in the
works at The Crucible. For the second time in our history, we’re
launching an event bringing the creativity, skill and glamour of high
fashion together with the strength, power and volatility of the
industrial arts. Introducing HOT COUTURE: A Fusion of Fashion and Fire.

As
our 14th year anniversary event, Hot Couture seeks teams of designers
to collaborate and design industrial haute couture. Our event concept is
to blend the intensity and craft surrounding true French haute couture
with the raw energy and materials found in the industrial arts. We’re
calling for fashion designers to pair with industrial artists to use
talents from both fields to create bold design, visionary fashion, and
accessories that can only exist in this rare coupling of worlds.

Leather,
metal, paper, stone, silk, fire, electricity… All materials and methods
of beautifully integrating them with the human form are up for grabs.
The supporting event will be produced in proper Crucible style, with a
focus on industrial elements set to a backdrop of metal and fire.

Once
the show run has completed, all pieces will be included in a moving art
installation as part of a set of exhibits in museums throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area.

We are currently seeking submissions and team proposals from fashion
designers and industrial artists. Interested participants should click here to fill out our proposal form.

Requirements

• Design teams much produce a minimum of four complete looks for the show.
• Looks must be imaginative and well executed.
• Wearable is a guideline; we are looking for fashion sculpture.
• All designs should be flame resistant.

Event Details

• The dates for the show will be Friday and Saturday nights, January 11th and 12th, 2013.
• The Crucible will provide a materials stipend for each team selected.
• The Crucible will own the works after the show.
• All artists and designers will be credited for their work.

HOT
COUTURE: A Fusion of Fashion and Fire fashion is a spectacle that you
won’t want to miss. We’re looking forward to supporting you and your
team, and we’d like to get started as soon as possible.

For information on haute couture and it’s place in France’s fashion DNA, Vanity Fair has this: http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/09/couture200909 

Interested in participating? Click here to fill out our proposal form!

Call for Fashion Designers and Industrial Artists

Application submission deadline at 10pm on September 25, 2016

The Crucible is seeking designer and artist submissions for Hot Couture 2017, our annual show integrating bold design, visionary fashion, and fire accessories. Our four-night event, February 16-19, 2017, will feature artists and designer teams creating haute couture concepts that illustrate the intersection between fashion, traditional industrial materials, and fabrication.

 
For Hot Couture 2017, we are inspired by the boundary-defying showmanship of Prince. He embodies what we want for our fire fashion show: innovative artistry, iconic fashion, perpetual creativity, bold vision, and lots and lots of love. Like his collaboration with other talented artists, we encourage designers to build strong runway presentations that celebrate diversity and funk and excellence in all its forms. As such, the theme for the next Hot Couture will be “The Beautiful Ones”. 
 
The Hot Couture fashion shows will take place Thursday, February 16 to Sunday, February 19, 2017. The final dress rehearsal (open to the community) will be on Wednesday, February 15. An initial run through/fire rehearsal will be on Friday, February 10. The Crucible will provide a materials stipend for each designer/team selected. Designers will have access to The Crucible for meetings, production rehearsals, and several fabrication tools. All artists and designers will be credited for their work and the contracted designer will receive four complimentary tickets for one of the shows (night TBD). The Crucible will hire and staff all production details for the runway show. This includes lighting, pyrotechnics, ticketing, security, hospitality, and front of house. Designers are responsible for hiring their own models, makeup artists, and hair artists.

Application process:

Professional and amateur designers are welcome. To submit an application for inclusion in our next Hot Couture performance, send your biography, contact info, and proposal to events@thecrucible.org. Larger format files can be sent via dropbox or hard copies delivered in person to The Crucible. Please include the following in your submission:

1. Minimum 500-word biography detailing your experience or desire to create wearable art. Include any details of past experience, exposure with runway shows, relationship to The Crucible, as well as name, address, email, phone number, and links to social media and/or websites.
2. Minimum four head-to-toe wearable looks to be created for the runway. Sketches or photographs (jpegs) are acceptable formats. Designers will be allowed to have up to 8 designs during their walk in this year’s show.
3. All completed looks must be imaginative and well executed. Wearable is a guideline. We ask that designers incorporate some sort of fire into their runway show and/or designs. All designs should be flame resistant. Women’s and men’s fashions are accepted and encouraged. Hair, makeup, and music ideas must also be included as part of the descriptions for each look.
4. List of team members, including hair, makeup, models, or musicians, if known. Designers are responsible for enlisting their own models, as well as hair and makeup artists. Each team will be allowed one model per outfit (4-8), up to four artists/assistants and