One of the first looks Emma Berg sent down the runway in tonight’s installment of The Mnfashion Shows was a swingy lipstick red dress with “It gets better” emblazoned across the chest. My smile lasted straight through to the last look: a sleeveless tiered white blouse with skinny lace pants and matching oversized hair bow that Minnie Mouse would die for. There were dresses like the white, below the knee halter style with one dynamite red panel you could imagine a fly girl wearing to a country club pool party juxtaposed with short and sheer with strategically placed sequined palm trees. As Berg said herself in the program, “The collection is filled with drama, confidence and wry humor. It is for a woman comfortable in her skin, who, at times, seeks out mischief.”

The uber-talented knitwear designer Kevin Kramp’s oversized men’s sweaters and clingy knit pants seemed downright practical, compared to his grown man onesies and 20 foot scarves of just a few years ago. The biggest cheers came for the chunky women’s sweater dresses. Some male models wore skinny, wrapped scarves with contrasting ends – and nothing else on top.

These are two talented designers who know how to put on a show. The lights were dim and blue, the music was ominous, both segments opened with a montage of fast moving video snippets – from Emma’s flurry of recent news headlines to Kramp’s appreciation for the male form. Berg and Kramp take the art of fashion very seriously, but aren’t afraid to have fun. That perspective makes for fantastic ride. So it was perfectly fitting that Kramp took his bow on a dirt bike.

Photos courtesy of Ellen Dahl Lawson.