Tag: Kritiq Fashion Show

Streetwear-infused runway show hits 10 year-mark, building fashion family along the way

By Tommy Felts / May 20, 2025

High fashion met heartfelt passion on the runway Sunday with the return of the The Kritiq Fashion Show — a celebration of creativity, entrepreneurship and community spirit that not even a global pandemic (or family pressures) could undress. “This is our 10th year,” said Mark Launiu, co-founder of The Kritiq, as well as the Kansas…

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Photos: Culture pops as Kritiq puts KC’s fashion family on the runway

By Tommy Felts / November 26, 2019

The evolution of the Kritiq fashion show — from a one-night event to a full weekend showcasing up-and-coming artists and fashion designers in streetwear and high fashion — was an intentional effort to reflect Kansas City’s booming creative landscape, said Mark Launiu. “The culture [of Kansas City] is changing and we have to be a…

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Kritiq spring show

‘Starting to bloom’: Kritiq spring show debuts Sunday highlighting KC fashion scene by design

By Tommy Felts / April 25, 2019

Jo Hartley might be different from the typical designer featured this weekend at The Kritiq Fashion Show. She’s also the type of creator who organizers of the Kansas City runway experience want to brag about — the type they credit with helping grow the fashion show that’s been organized each fall the past four years.…

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2017 Kritiq fashion show

VIDEO: Kritiq designs more emotional KC runway show with Goodwill crossover

By Tommy Felts / November 9, 2018

When the Kritiq fashion show returns to the runway later this month, it will be an event styled with creativity and an intimate feel, said Mark Launiu, noting a new partnership with Goodwill stores across Kansas and Missouri. “For me, I grew up shopping at Goodwill, my family still shops at Goodwill, so it kind…

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Kyrie Eleison Couture

Designed by a language of love, ‘my clothing is my ministry,’ says Esmeralda Lole

By Tommy Felts / September 28, 2018

Kyrie Eleison Couture creates custom pieces that incorporate the customer’s cultural influences, said Esmeralda Lole. Lole works closely with individual customers and draws colors from flags and patterns from their countries of origin, she said. “Everyone has a different love language and my love language is acts of service. So for me, to be able…

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