Welcome to the Costume Lounge by Angela King Designs

Sit back and relax in The Costume Lounge - a blog by Angela King Designs and Go Wild! Wear. Since 1989, AKD has been creating top fashions in cheerleading, dance and performance wear. In the Costume Lounge, we discuss today's hottest trends and topics, who's wearing what, how to get the competitive edge in performance fashion and more. Once you are caught up on the latest news, browse our fashions at www.gowildwear.com or drop us a line at sales@gowildwear.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Alexa's Blog - My Year as the Face of AKD


Hey AKD fans – Alexa here! I am thrilled to communicate with you all through my first blog post for The Costume Lounge! 

Since being named the winner of the 2013 AKD Sports Model Search Contest, I have experienced some bittersweet and important moments in my life. 

In April, I performed at my final New Orleans Hornets game as a Honeybee, and this month I will officially be a graduate of Tulane University with a degree in marketing. What an exciting (and somewhat scary) time in my life! I included some photos here of our final game as a Honeybee. That's me kissing the Hornet - the blonde on the upper left. Love him!

I can’t wait to see what this summer has in store, from modeling the new Go Wild! Wear designs at the official photo shoot to representing AKD at Pro Action Dance in Las Vegas—and hopefully many other things in between!

My first duty as the 2013 Face of AKD is to design a rehearsal uniform for the up-and-coming Pelicans Dance Team. The NBA Hornets have undergone re-branding and are now known as the New Orleans Pelicans. Although I will not be auditioning for the Pelicans, I am looking forward to having some involvement with this new team by outfitting them in custom-designed Go Wild! Wear.

When I set out to design the practice uniform, my main goal was to find a perfect balance between comfort and style. I want the girls to feel secure while dancing but it needed to have that “Alexa” flair to it. Stay tuned for the official unveiling of my design!

Be sure to visit The Costume Lounge every month as I update you on my journey with AKD - or subscribe by entering your email above. Next month I’ll reveal which of my designs made it to the new Go Wild! Wear collection as well as some other exciting news… Stay tuned!

Dream BIG!
Alexa


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Spotlight on Style Pro Rebecca Girard

REBECCA GIRARD
Phone: 1-877-97-GO-AKD x719
Email: Rebecca@gowildwear.com
Location: Lansing, Michigan
Territory: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin

Background:

  • Former Director, Detroit Pistons "Automotion Dance Team" (10 years)
  • Founder and Director, Detroit Tigers Promo Team (Current)
  • Recruiter and Judge, Miss Michigan USA Pageant
  • Founder and Former Director, Oakland University Dance Team
  • Former Coach, Nationally ranked University of Michigan Dance Team
  • Marketing and PR Manager at COMLINK 
  • Change Management Consultant at Accenture 
  • Associate Producer for the NFL Detroit Lions halftime show by E2K
  • Coached three high school dance teams to national honors 
  • Choreographer, MTV America’s Got Talent Regional Finalist crew
  • Coach Trainer, Universal Dance Association
  • Judge, Miss USA Michigan/Miss Teen USA Michigan pageants
  • Oakland University, Degree in Business, Dance and Psychology, Member of the university Athletic Hall of Honor
  • Has choreographed and produced halftime shows and routines for the NFL, NBA, WNBA and AFL

ABOUT REBECCA: 
From a young age, Rebecca's energy has been contagious and drew her instantly to a career in performance and sports entertainment. Rebecca has experienced all aspects of performance as an NBA dance team director, a collegiate performer and director, team dance choreographer and judge, and currently as the director of the promotional team at the Detroit Tigers. 

With this incredible background, Rebecca finds consulting her AKD customers fun and fluent. She can easily coordinate costuming, accessories, and budget saving suggestions. Rebecca's recent customers include the Milwaukee Bucks Energee! Dance Team, the Chicago Soul and Lawrence Technical University. 

When Rebecca's not working in pageantry, sales and entertainment, she spends time with her two children, including daughter Mackenzie, who is a stand out dancer and model for AKD Role Models. 

View AKD Style Pro Directory

Thursday, May 9, 2013

AKD Welcomes NBA and NFL Coaches and Performers as Style Pros

Angela King Designs is honored to announce three new Style Pros joining the talented AKD and Go Wild! Wear personnel. The Style Pros attend to customers in a particular region, assisting discovery of design and product selection, and are considered experts in the industries of dance and cheer performance, fitness, pageantry and sportswear.

Laura Mason was the director of the Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders from 1994-2001 and the director of the Falcons Junior Cheerleaders from 1996-1999. During her tenure, she coordinated Super Bowl and American Bowl activities. Prior to leading these programs, Laura performed with the Falcons Cheerleaders for five years, serving as captain, performing on both the co-ed stunt team and the all-girl performance team, and touring with “The Women of the NFL.” She spent time as a staff instructor for Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA). Laura has served as coach for cheerleading teams at the high school and all star gym levels.  Laura resides in Augusta, GA and will serve the states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee as previous Style Pro Kelly Stewart-Barker moves on from her position. Kelly will remain an AKD Brand Ambassador, and we thank Kelly for her three years of service with the Style Pro team!


Michelle Gagnon was a New England Patriots Cheerleader from 2000-2002, performing at Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans. Michelle has a degree in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University. She continues to serve as the Coach and Choreographer of the university dance team. Previously she was the Coordinator and Assistant Choreographer of the Manchester Wolves Arena2Football Dance Team. She continues to instruct dance performance at Dance, Etc. studio and serves on the board of the Dance Visions Network as Stage Manager of the annual Nutcracker Suite performance. Michelle resides in New Hampshire near the Boston Metro area and will serve the Upper Northeast including states of New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Connecticut. Previous Style Pro in the Northeast Laura Eilers Clark remains on the Style Pro team for the Mid-Northeast.


Megan Savage has spent several years as the director of the Rocky Mountain RockStarz alumni performance group. Her performance experience includes the NBA Denver Nuggets Dancers, the NFL Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders and the Kansas State University "Classy Cats" Dance Team. During her NBA career, Megan performed overseas in support of American troops and was a back up dancer for artists including Coolio, MC Hammer, Otis Day, and Digital Underground. Megan spent nearly six years as a camp instructor and head instructor for Universal Dance Association and has served on the judging panel for UDA national dance championships. Megan was previously a high school dance team coordinator in Kansas City and continues to serve the dance community as an elected member of the Colorado Spirit Coaches Association. In her free time, Megan enjoys snow boarding. Megan resides in Denver, with territory including Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Western Kansas. 

With the addition of these talented team members, Style Pro regions are adjusted. Recent customers will remain in contact with their Style Pro unless otherwise directed. 

The team of 9 Style Pros will gather this summer at the AKD home office in Schertz, Texas for the annual staff retreat. During these three days in June, Style Pros tour the home office, reveal the new 2013 Go Wild! Wear Collection, and fine tune skills to serve our customers. Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes blogs by our staff!  

Meet the AKD Style Pro Team

Contact the Style Pro Team

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Meet Tate, AKD Junior Designer, Age 14, Colorado



Blog #6: Following Tate, Age 14, Colorado: It's time to meet our May feature AKD Junior Desiger Tate! Tate is a high school freshman in Denver. She is a talented tennis player who also enjoys singing and song-writing. Her favorite colors are pink, turquoise and royal blue. 

"I love designing clothes, so I have always wanted to do something like this!" said Tate, who recently prepared her AKD Junior Designer sketches for us.

Based on her sports background, we gathered that Tate would design something a little more sporty. That is one of our favorite parts of the Junior Designer program - each novice designer gets to incorporate her own style and passion to her design, from dance practicewear to costuming to sportswear. Here are two of Tate's designs, which (no surprise!) feature her favorite colors. 




Next up, Tate will select her fabric choices from a variety of shades of blue including tricot/lycra, metallic, sequins and more. She'll also review lettering options including rhinestone, block, script, tackle twill and even custom lettering. 


The AKD production department will refer to these drawings, create patterning, and adjust the design as necessary for functionality and fabric needs. We'll take all of Tate's wishes into consideration in bringing her creation to life. Then in a few weeks, she'll get the delivery of her actual costumes in hand - in her size! 

Stay tuned as we bring you closer to the process in the coming weeks. 




Apply to Become the Next Junior Designer

About the AKD Junior Designer Program: Our intentions in creating the AKD Role Models "Junior Designer" program are to promote design and creativity in our society's youth. We want to reach out to young designers and help them to realize their goals of becoming future fashion leaders. We hope that these Junior Designers will influence more children and teens to become young leaders and encourage them to follow their designing dreams.