Spring fashion heats up the runway at Thaw

Fashion, philanthropy and a chance to get into Justin Timberlake's jeans. If that sounds like a dreamy combination, then it's time to dump your winter wear, shimmy into something springlike (even if the weather doesn't cooperate) and head to the second annual Thaw fashion show, May 1 in Sodo.

Enjoy cocktails, appetizers, preshow shopping, a live auction and a runway show featuring independent designers. Proceeds benefit the Huntington's Disease Society of America, a cause close to Northwest chapter president and Thaw show organizer Liz Weber, whose mother has Huntington's.

When Weber took over as president in March of 2006, she wanted to put together an event that attracted people who had never even heard of Huntington's Disease. With the help of a friend, Portland designer and shop owner Kate Towers, Thaw was born, attracting 14 designers and a sold-out crowd of more than 200 people at the inaugural show, and raising $50,000 for HDSA.

This year, Weber's fundraising goal is $100,000. The show will feature 25 designers, including Portland's Adam Arnold and Seattle's own Prairie Underground, and will take place in a hip Sodo warehouse (4616 Ohio Ave. S.) donated by Henry Liebman, with real-estate development company American Life. "The new revitalized warehouse space -- that in itself is going to be a piece of art," Weber says.

Before the show, sip a cocktail and nibble on appetizers while you peruse the Thaw Shop, where you can stock up on accessories and wares by independent designers like Alisha Louise, Crystalyn Kae and Glassybaby, who created a limited-edition votive for the occasion called Arctic Thaw. Everything in the Thaw Shop will be available for purchase at 20 percent off retail, with all proceeds benefiting HDSA.

Three levels of tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets. The $3,000 premier package gets you 10 reserved seats to the show, a $100 gift certificate to Jaxx Boutik, one of the limited-edition Glassybaby votives, 10 swag bags and two pairs of sized-to-fit William Rast jeans -- the line created by crooner Justin Timberlake and his best friend, Trace Ayala -- along with myriad other goodies.

For $250, you get nonreserved runway seating and a swag bag along with other perks, and $75 scores you general admission to the show, hosted bar and hors d'oeuvres, and complimentary valet parking.

Just before the runway show starts, be sure to check out the live auction, which will include two tickets to the Marc by Marc Jacobs New York Fashion Week runway show and a Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag; a glassblowing lesson for eight at the Glassybaby studio, followed by dinner; and a custom, handmade piece by Paul Frank.

Cocktails, noshing and the Thaw Shop open at 6:30 p.m., with the auction and runway show to follow at 8:15 p.m.

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