There will be an "absolute explosion of color" between the Dils Center and the Smoot Theater in Parkersburg tonight. That's when St. Marys High School senior Zachary Dean Clark will stage "American Motherhood and Mystique," a fashion show he produced that will showcase West Virginia amateur models and fashions by Clark.

"I thought it to be the perfect way to cap my experience in the high school art department - kind of like a thesis," Clark said. "It's actually something I've always wanted to do. I'm so excited!"

An aspiring fashion designer, Clark will attend Parsons School of Design in New York City this fall as a fashion design major and prestigious Chase Scholar.

"In many ways, fashion is seen as a trend watch, and I think that's a mistake. I think it's an art form," he said. "Fashion is kind of sculpture in a hurry."

Clark, who won First Place in Costume Design at the SCORES academic festival in both 2006 and 2007 (he was unable to compete this year), has always been a fan of fashion. He remembers being enamored with the colors of Disney-animated costumes as a child.

"I just wanted to wrap myself in that color," he said.

This fascination has been a big inspiration for tonight's show. Each of his six models will wear one outfit each, walking the runway to the beat of techno remixes of Disney songs.

Toys also inspired the show. One day, Clark was looking through bargain toys and thought, "Wouldn't it be ridiculous if someone made a dress with water guns?"

Thus began "American Motherhood."

Clark's aim is to poke fun at the more "motherly" aspects of society while updating drab 1950s fashion. He cites a push for world peace and the irony of promoting water gun, water bomb and dart toys amidst gun control issues as a major motivation for the show.

The recent spring collections of Michael Kors and Peter Som, both of which reverted to trendy '50s styles, also motivated Clark. However, Clark, whose favorite designers are Gareth Pugh and John Paul Gaultier, thinks that those collections are boring. He sees them as more of a challenge than anything, striving to make the same general style much more interesting.

At the start of the school year, Clark began to brainstorm, planning the venue and coming up with potential models. He had a certain body type in mind: tall, of course; "healthy-looking," not skinny; and possessing a type of "cartoon beauty" - large eyes, a heart-shaped mouth, etc.  He found six models, four female and two male, from around the state to fit the bill.

There will be an "absolute explosion of color" between the Dils Center and the Smoot Theater in Parkersburg tonight. That's when St. Marys High School senior Zachary Dean Clark will stage "American Motherhood and Mystique," a fashion show he produced that will showcase West Virginia amateur models and fashions by Clark.

"I thought it to be the perfect way to cap my experience in the high school art department - kind of like a thesis," Clark said. "It's actually something I've always wanted to do. I'm so excited!"

An aspiring fashion designer, Clark will attend Parsons School of Design in New York City this fall as a fashion design major and prestigious Chase Scholar.

"In many ways, fashion is seen as a trend watch, and I think that's a mistake. I think it's an art form," he said. "Fashion is kind of sculpture in a hurry."

Clark, who won First Place in Costume Design at the SCORES academic festival in both 2006 and 2007 (he was unable to compete this year), has always been a fan of fashion. He remembers being enamored with the colors of Disney-animated costumes as a child.

"I just wanted to wrap myself in that color," he said.

This fascination has been a big inspiration for tonight's show. Each of his six models will wear one outfit each, walking the runway to the beat of techno remixes of Disney songs.

Toys also inspired the show. One day, Clark was looking through bargain toys and thought, "Wouldn't it be ridiculous if someone made a dress with water guns?"

Thus began "American Motherhood."

Clark's aim is to poke fun at the more "motherly" aspects of society while updating drab 1950s fashion. He cites a push for world peace and the irony of promoting water gun, water bomb and dart toys amidst gun control issues as a major motivation for the show.

The recent spring collections of Michael Kors and Peter Som, both of which reverted to trendy '50s styles, also motivated Clark. However, Clark, whose favorite designers are Gareth Pugh and John Paul Gaultier, thinks that those collections are boring. He sees them as more of a challenge than anything, striving to make the same general style much more interesting.

At the start of the school year, Clark began to brainstorm, planning the venue and coming up with potential models. He had a certain body type in mind: tall, of course; "healthy-looking," not skinny; and possessing a type of "cartoon beauty" - large eyes, a heart-shaped mouth, etc.  He found six models, four female and two male, from around the state to fit the bill.

Clark met two of his models at Governor's School for the Arts in 2006 - Rikki Knotts, a Parkersburg South senior, and Nick Schamp, a Hurricane High School senior. Three others - Morgan Thomas, Terri Parlett and Luke Johnson - attend St. Marys with him. His final model, Parkersburg Catholic sophomore Ty Hanson, was introduced to Clark by his makeup artist, Leighton Roush, a Parkersburg Catholic senior. 

"It was really hard to find guys," said Clark, whose favorite professional model is Lily Cole. "You'd think it'd be a lot easier to find tall guys that looked the way I wanted them to, but it was actually a lot easier to find tall girls that looked the way I wanted them to."

And finding girls was especially important since Clark loves designing clothes for women. "It's actually where I'm most comfortable [because] I know what's sexy."

Growing up in a house with a mother and two sisters gave Clark an inside view of femininity. "I've always watched how they prepared themselves every morning," he said.

As a result, "on dates, I'll critique the ensemble." Girls aren't always happy about that, he jokes, but it provides good practice.

After finding his models, Clark focused on his designs. He examined clothing and how pieces fit together and taught himself to make patterns. In December and January, he designed his pieces on paper, and later in January, he began construction of the pieces.

"All the seamstresses I went to had no idea what I was talking about" in terms of design, he says, so he sewed and is sewing all of his pieces himself. He kept in mind the body types, hair colors and eye colors of the models as he sewed and made pieces accordingly.

These are not typical designer fashions, though. "In some of my pieces, I think I've kind of introduced genres of clothes that didn't exist," he said. "I kind of pushed the boundaries and made it unusual."

For example, he has a mini-dress as a swimwear cover-up and a "wedding hoodie," his very unique bridal piece. Clark says the latter is an apron base with long sleeves and a hood instead of a veil. A plunger arrow will poke through a heart-shaped knot on the piece, and the bouquet will consist of similar arrows.

"It's been very difficult at times," Clark said of working on the show. "But already, looking at finished pieces on the dress board is very satisfying. I'm actually really pleased with how it's turned out."

Using mostly nursery and home décor fabrics, Clark says that he challenged himself to keep each outfit basically monochromatic and "bright, bright, bright, bright, bright!" He will use the "ugly, gray, drab" background of the alley as a contrasting canvas.

The show begins at 7 p.m. with refreshments to follow.