It seems like only yesterday that I wrote, "It used to be that every time you turned around there was a benefit function, corporate anniversary, or some other tenuously related event that featured a fashion show. Much like cupcakes, they had become the party favor du jour." And now, after a relatively fashion show-free summer, the fall storm of shows appears to be gathering.

On September 30, a Chicago-born organization called Backbones—a support/mentorship community for people with spinal cord injuries and their families—will celebrate its expansion into the Pacific Northwest with a runway at the MercyCorps HQ featuring looks from Mag-Big, Mabel & Zora. Along with last night's festive Dress/Undress Planned Parenthood benefit, these types of shows/parties seem like a pretty fun and goodhearted way to ramp up enthusiasm for the season's more formal events, even if they're less of a platform for debuting new work, and even if a shop's representation on the runway is really about styling (styling is damn important, after all). Stay tuned for more details on this and many other upcoming show on MOD.