The crowd of 400 teen-services librarians cheered wildly as their colleagues strutted and posed along the catwalk in the Westin River North Hotel Friday night for YALSA’s happy hour and fashion show. The event was hosted by New York Public Library Young Adult Librarian Jack Martin, but the big draw was Chicago fashion designer Steven Rosengard, who emceed the fashion show.
Steven Rosengard talks with Youth Services Librarian Lauren Knowlton
Rosengard was a contestant on the fourth season of Bravo’s Project Runway series in 2007 (where he lasted five episodes), but he also works as a textile curator in the Exhibits and Collections Department of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.
After some 20 librarian contestants showed off their finest leisure and work couture, Rosengard called on the audience to choose the winner by applause.
Rosengard calls for the applause meter
Modeling a dapper gray suit, New York Public Library’s Chris Shoemaker–one of the only two males in the lineup–received the loudest ovation and thus claimed the prize, a black velvet and charmeuse scarf that Rosengard had designed for one of the Project Runway episodes.
Chris Shoemaker, fashion show winner
Kelly Czarnecki, completely made over
Also on the program was Kelly Czarnecki, young adult librarian at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, who showed off her YALSA-sponsored makeover earlier in the day that included a hairstyling, eyebrow shaping, and complete makeup session at Macy’s. Czarnecki told American Libraries that she “highly recommends the procedure in case YALSA does this again next year.”