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Trish Taggart models a dress in the For Love and Lemons fashion show Friday at the Mangy Moose Saloon. Jackson residents Gillian Mahin and Laura Hall sketched and stiched all the fashions that debuted Friday, and they plan to manufacture and sell select items from their new label. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / BRADLY J. BONER

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An eclipse occurred Friday night in Teton Village when the Mangy Moose Saloon, famous for its après-ski entertainment, hosted a fashion show. Runway looks overshadowed the usual soft-shell uniforms.

Even so, the party jazzed both stilettos and ski boots.

The evening was the denouement of months of hard work by two Jackson natives, Gillian Mahin and Laura Hall, both 23. The childhood best friends channeled their shared love of fashion and their entrepreneurial spirits – which they discovered together by managing summer lemonade stands – into a clothing line, For Love and Lemons. Sketched and stitched all on their own, the debut collection speaks both to the diligence and skills of the designers.

But on Friday night, For Love and Lemons shouted fun – brightly colored, summer-celebratory, runway-winks fun.

Before the party began, however, the day’s events highlighted the commitment behind the curtain. After sewing their own outfits late Thursday night, Hall and Mahin met the 10 models at 9 a.m. at the Mangy Moose and led a runway walk-through. At noon, hair and makeup with Henry Williams began in a Teton Village condo. Two hours before the show, Hall and Mahin finished their final alteration on a runway outfit.

With the hour clock ticking, the condo suite buzzed with activity.

“It’s like a birthday party,” said Breezy Mulligan, a junior at Jackson Hole High School and the youngest model at 16.

Williams, a painter with a fine-arts degree, worked assiduously, adding glimmer to lips, sloping eyeliner to lids, and pinning bows and birdies into coiled coifs.

“I like making people feel pretty,” he said, recalling his childhood predilection for braiding his sister’s hair and the manes and tails of the horses he rode in dressage events.

On the models, Williams  melded the “construction of the ’50s” with the “messiness” of contemporary style. Clouds of hairspray fixed strands into buns and makeup on faces.

Models inspected each other: long necklaces? Check. Platform Mary Janes and suede high-heeled booties? Check. Outfits one, two and for some, three? Check.

Hall’s mom, Nancy, former Jackson district ranger, stopped by and wished the ladies well. She had driven that day from Montana.

To keep the fashions a mystery, the models returned to sweats and Ugg boots for the quick walk to the saloon, the everyday look of Cassie Mulligan. She described her personal style as more conservative than the revealing bodysuit she would wear on the runway.

For some, the Mangy Moose runway would be their first. To prepare for her catwalk debut, Laura’s sister Natalie Hall, 22, watched YouTube videos of models’ strides. She flew from Florida for the fashion show.

Others felt at home on the runway: Trish Taggart, 26, had modeled in two New York Fashion Weeks and in Las Vegas.

About 6:30 p.m., Hall returned from the saloon with a crowd report: “It’s packed!”

The models evacuated the condo, leaving Williams in a weary wake of makeup pots and bobby pins.

On the walk over, Hall calmly reeled in the reality that the fashion show was about to flash by.

“It was noon, and now it’s 6,” she said.

She felt boosted by the banner turnout. With no budget for advertising, the designers and their friends and family flooded the valley with fliers.

“You call as many people as you can and you hope everyone shows up,” she said.

Echoing the energy inside the bar, the models chattered with nerves and excitement in the Mangy Moose band room. Two models rubbed away deodorant stripes, while another pair practiced runway walks.

David Yoder, Mangy Moose owner, popped his head backstage and announced the audience was getting restless. Yoder’s daughter, Samantha, 18, would walk the runaway in a flouncy dress.

Meanwhile, emcee Anne Marie Randall, whose daughter Nicole Riek also stepped up to model, assuaged the crowd with updates and cajoled people toward bidding on the auction art, buying raffle tickets for local prizes, and ordering menu and drink specials.

DJ Rocky cued the models with recorded applause.

“Y’all keep your paws in!” Randall playfully instructed.

Breezy Mulligan – dressed in a ruffled bodysuit, hot-pink knee-highs and a matching daisy behind her ear – led the parade of fashion inspired by boho chic and ’50s pinups. Mini dresses, jersey bodysuits, high-waisted skirts and floppy bows cascaded from the stage and its backsplash of local art onto the runaway made of folded tables. Hot Chip and Guns and Roses pumped up the crowd and the models. Cheers dissolved nerves.

Hall and Mahin followed the models’ final turn of the runway and offered their thanks.

“Let’s have a party!” Mahin rallied.

Her dad, former Mangy Moose owner Pat Mahin, watched from the wings.

“I’ve done thousands of shows before, but this was the hardest,” he said.

The evening involved myriad components.

“Raise your glasses,” Randall invited.

The crowd toasted the women onstage. The designers and of-age models celebrated with lemon drop shots.