From left, event organizer Lauren Hutson stands on a chair to help model Mikayla Pitts with her necklace while model Kestrel Keller helps fellow model, Olive Boldy, with their shoe on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.
Nancy Mahoney does a celebratory lap with the other event organizers at the end of the show on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.
Rachel Leathe/Chronicle
In October, Nancy Mahoney had an idea for a fashion show, one like Bozeman had never seen before. Mahoney, who owns two downtown clothing boutiques, Moka and Alloy, said she wanted to “celebrate all the people who shop in our stores who do not fit into the conventional categories. We wanted it to be inclusive, diverse, and most of all, model-centered.”
“It’s not about the designer or the brand,” Mahoney said. “It’s about the individuals in it.”
On Saturday, Feb. 4, Mahoney’s vision came to fruition with the Mx! all-gender fashion show, a partnership with Queer Bozeman. Organizers picked 24 volunteer models from a pool of 50 candidates. Mahoney said they wanted to make sure they had a “core group of people who were non-binary or queer but we didn’t want to be exclusive in any way," so they also picked models with different body types, ethnicities, ages and genders.
From left, event organizer Lauren Hutson stands on a chair to help model Mikayla Pitts with her necklace while model Kestrel Keller helps fellow model, Olive Boldy, with their shoe on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.
Bri Morin and Julian Costantini pose for a photo backstage while waiting for the show to start on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.
Rachel Leathe/Chronicle
After the models where chosen, they were all invited to Mahoney’s boutiques where they were instructed to choose two “looks” from the stores, one for winter and one for spring.
The night of the show, the room was packed with supporters. Mahoney estimates they sold between 150 and 180 tickets with a portion of the sales going to Queer Bozeman.
Backstage, the models were buzzing with nerves and anticipation.
“It’s really high-energy,” model Sophia Fortunato said. “Everyone is so friendly.”
Fellow model Oriana Hazelton agreed, “It feels like adult summer camp!”
Josset Guzman, a Montana State University student from Huancayo, Peru, had never modeled before Saturday. “I saw the announcement,” he said, “and figured, why not?”
