Designer Michael Southgate designs

Via Bellagio Shoppes has become the latest fashion runway
for designer, Michael Southgate.

A stroll through Via Bellagio Shoppes in the Bellagio Resort & Casino showcases the latest fashion designs of Michael Southgate. Southgate collaborated with Stephen Stefanou of Dallas-based Design Solutions to create beautiful evening wear of hand-dyed synthetics and rubber adorn the high fashion mannequins as part of Bellagio’s celebration of the holidays. “Yes, rubber is an ideal medium for these fantasy gowns since it allows for easy finishing of all the costume’s details,” says Southgate.

Former Managing Director of Adele Rootstein Mannequins and theatrical designer in London’s West End, Michael Southgate, was asked by Design Solutions of Dallas, TX to undertake the “look” of the fashion icons that adorn the 8-ft diameter gold-leafed ornaments which line the retail corridor of the Bellagio Resort.

Southgate, who has spent much of his professional life creating costumes and theatrical props, has participated for thirty years in creating fashion exhibits for museums and department stores. The Metropolitan Museum in New York, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Christmas holiday windows for Harrod’s of London, promotional displays for Swarovski crystals of Austria, costumes in wire and glass for Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan and Daytons in Minneapolis and even a costume for a life-size Barbie doll museum exhibit in Berlin are all part of his artist portfolio.

“As a child who was raised in the English countryside I was fascinated with Hollywood and its glamour. I latched onto that image and it became the ideal. I remember so vividly today the impression that Technicolor made on me….vivid emerald green, shocking pink plus the sequins and feathers….that all captured my imagination as they had not been part of my world,” Southgate explained.

Although many think of Southgate as a Fashion Designer, Southgate is quick to
note, “I am not a Fashion Designer but a costume designer where any material is possible as long as the final effect is stunning!”

“Wire, glass, plastic and rubber are not exactly comfortable to wear” Southgate adds,”but they do result in fantasy and glamour which is what I am all about.”