A self-taught Kansas City fashion designer will bring his signature menswear line to a runway tailored just for men later this month, he shared, hosting an event that he characterized as a celebration of menswear.
Mid-West Men’s Fashion Week (MWMFW) is set for March 24-26 at Audi Shawnee Mission in Merriam, according to Christian Shuster, lead designer and president of the christianMICHAEL fashion label.
christianMICHAEL runway image courtesy of Christian Shuster
“This is the first time we’ve ever done a fashion week event specifically highlighting and featuring menswear designers,” Shuster said. “I think it’s something that’s needed. I wholeheartedly believe, understand, and realize that the fashion industry will always be dominated by womenswear, but I love where I’ve come from as a menswear designer, and I think it’s time to start highlighting, promoting, and really showcasing our menswear designers from the Midwest.”
Eight local and regional designers (including Shuster) are expected to showcase about 15 designs each across Friday and Saturday nights, he said. The weekend will conclude Sunday with a free “Shop the Runway” event.
Click here to purchase tickets to Mid-West Men’s Fashion Week.
Shuster has shown his collections at various runway events in the past — including Kansas City Fashion Week — and also founded Runway Review KC, which hosts an annual large-scale runway show at a “hyper-unique” venue in Kansas City, he said. Last year’s event was organized at Children’s Mercy Park, the home of Sporting Kansas City.
Shuster hopes to offer an opportunity for local designers and models to succeed through events like MWMFW, he said, noting that he does not charge designers any fees to participate and compensates every model who walks the runway.
“I’ve been very adamant since I started producing shows that I wanted to try and provide that platform with the understanding that when we all succeed as a community and as an industry, I’m going to succeed more as an individual,” Shuster said.
Fashionable history
Though he’s long since established the christianMICHAEL brand, Shuster admitted that he “kinda fell into” the fashion industry in his early 30s as he searched for a creative outlet.
christianMICHAEL runway image courtesy of Christian Shuster
He grew up “fairly fashionable,” he said, and always had an interest in art and history, especially when it came to military uniforms from the Napoleonic and Civil War eras.
“I sat down and bought a sewing machine maybe 15-16 years ago and decided I wanted to really learn the process of garment construction, and then take it into a label,” Shuster said. “I started going to thrift stores and tearing apart garments to know how they’re put together … and just really spent time on the sewing machine working through the process.”
Relying on YouTube as his teacher, Shuster noted the value of online learning in his own journey to launching the christianMICHAEL label in 2009.
“There’s a YouTube channel and video on literally everything in the world, and if you’re motivated and interested, you can teach yourself anything,” he said.
After establishing christianMICHAEL and showing his first collection in 2011, Shuster turned his attention to growing the label, which remains a passion project that the self-described “busy personality type” works on in addition to his job for a nonprofit.
“I’m pretty much ‘on’ 24/7,” Shuster said. “I’m lucky that I’m able to be in a day job from 9 to 5 that I love and I’m truly passionate about, then transition in the evenings and the weekends to growing and focusing on my label, something I’m just as if not even more passionate about.”
“I get to be able to pursue what I love to do on a daily basis for a career while at the same time having my creative and artistic outlet that is becoming a great secondary business and a source of supplemental income,” he continued. “So I’m lucky in a lot of senses, but I’m also built for it.”
Signature look
Through the years, christianMICHAEL has expanded to include womenswear, but Shuster still feels grateful to have started his fashion career in menswear, he said.
christianMICHAEL runway image courtesy of Christian Shuster
“I’m so glad I started in menswear, and it’s tough because when you talk about the sewing aspects of menswear, it’s astronomically more complicated than making womenswear,” Shuster said. “Everything has to be symmetrical and match from one side to the other. The tailoring is much more time intensive from a construction standpoint. I think it made me a better designer starting in menswear and then transitioning to womenswear, as opposed to the other way around.”
Increasing consumer demand for androgynous clothing has helped the brand, also noting that he’s established a “signature look” with his diamond-quilted fabric that often gets recognized, Shuster said.
“I think I have a very specific design eye,” he said. “I have a lot of clients tell me, ‘Hey, I had somebody come up to me wearing your jacket and they told me, ‘That’s a christianMICHAEL.’ I think that’s just one of the biggest compliments in the fashion and design world.”
That recognition extends beyond Kansas City, Shuster noted, acknowledging that the local fashion industry is different than in cities like Los Angeles and New York.
Click here to read about another Kansas City designer who’s sewing their creativity — and anger — into every garment headed to the runway.
“I’m always blown away whenever I go to the coasts or show in some of those fashion weeks, because people come up to me after the show. . . and they go, ‘You’re from where?’” Shuster said. “It’s almost on their face that they can’t fathom someone from where I am producing designs and collections on the level in which I’ve shown over past years. It really blows them away.”
Despite the flattery, Shuster said he’s rooted in his hometown, and shared his excitement for how the Kansas City fashion industry has grown within the past decade — and if he gets his way, will continue to do so.
“Kansas City is unique,” he said. “I love where I live. Born and raised here, and I’m never gonna leave. I wholeheartedly believe in building and developing a successful fashion label and business from the Midwest.”
