The Place: Thursday night at The Fairmont Hotel, Downtown.

#ForcesOfNature: Ecolution has undergone an evolution over the past few years, growing and improving with each step down the runway. Pittsburgh-based designers put their best fashion foot forward, using unconventional materials to create runway-ready pieces. This year, the event was elevated with the performance by the dynamic orator, artist and poet Vanessa German. Her work “The Earth’s First Language is Love” was riveting, complete with models adorned by ceramic sculptures. “You are the grace and the truth of this Earth so rise up. Do you know how beautiful you are?” she asked. Weylin Gomez had a tough act to follow but brought his own unique perspective with a choreographed piece called “Gaia.” After a fun interlude with Miss Thea Trix performing “It’s Raining Men,” the show began. Standouts included Julianne D’Errioc’s “Supernova — The Divine Feminine,” which repurposed acrylic paint sheets shaped like geode stones to create a dramatic gown. Other judges’ favorites were Electric Catfish’s “Strong, Powerful Woman Warrior: A Force to Recon With”; Zain Islam-Hasmi’s “Earth-Construction-Deconstruction,” which used dirt, concrete, sand and paper; and Bradford Mumpower’s “Glacier Calving,” which thrilled the judges with real icicles and a skirt made of maps.

#QuotableMoment: “This year’s theme, ‘Forces of Nature, That Which We Cannot Control Will Move Us,’ was an attempt to show the forces of humankind that have an emotional connection to the earth and that diversity, love and compassion can outweigh those forces that threaten us,” said event curator and producer Richard Parsakian, who helped make this event a force to be reckoned with.

#SEEN: Judges: Eric Dorfman, Patrick Moore, Janis Burley Wilson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette style editor Sara Bauknecht and your very own SEEN editor. Also #seen were: event producer Ronda Zegarelli Rapaport, Emilio Cornacchione, Lucas and Renee Piatt, emcee Brian Siewiorek of WYEP, Larry Leahy and John Van de Grift, Gina Pferdehirt and Diana Misetic.

First Published: April 23, 2018, 10:00 a.m.