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But then again, why expect anything less when the event is created and produced by the Utopia Model Agency, whose goal is to broaden the standard of beauty.

This Sunday, Utopia Model Agency presents the Fashion Africana "Masks and Masquerade Ball" at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The event is inspired by African masquerade and mask traditions that are deeply rooted within the African diaspora, according to Demeatria Gibson Boccella, co-founder of Utopia Model Agency and founder and executive producer of Fashion Africana.

Sponsors for the event include Spa Uptown and United Colors of Benetton.

To celebrate Fashion Africana's fifth anniversary, Gibson Boccella wanted to organize a huge celebration befitting the occasion.

"I wanted to have something that would engage our audience and have them become a part of the Fashion Africana experience," she says.

The Masks and Masquerade Ball will feature a tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina; a royal wedding-themed fashion presentation with designs created by local fashion designer Diana Misetic, owner of Little Black Dress in Shadyside, and headwear designed by Churchill milliner Janis Burley Wilson; a royal procession featuring Utopia Models wearing traditional attire from Jamil's Global Village in East Liberty; and dance and musical performances by Wabei Siyolwe, Marta Magro, Banda Azucar, and the Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble.

Misetic, who participated in Fashion Africana several years ago and created fashions based on a Saharan wedding theme, is designing clothing for a bride and her wedding party for this year's event. She is constructing all of her designs from silk, using black and white as her primary color scheme.

"It will be very glamorous, very elegant, very classy," Misetic says.

Misetic says her creations are not traditional African designs, but rather her own interpretation that draws upon the elements of masks and rituals.

After the Fashion Africana event, Misetic's designs from the show will be for sale at Little Black Dress, and customers may also purchase custom-made creations.

Burley Wilson, who also has participated in Fashion Africana in the past, is designing traditional bridal headwear for the bridal party using materials such as feathers and beads, all in hues of white. Burley Wilson says she has done extensive research on the use of colors, feathers and beading in traditional African ceremonies, and is basing her designs on what she finds beautiful from the traditional pieces.

"These aren't traditional pieces, but are inspired by those designs," she says.

Besides wearing African-inspired designs, Gibson Boccella says all of the models will be adorned with some variation of African tribal body and face painting for the event, which will be done by Monroeville artist Vanessa German.

Because the fifth incarnation of Fashion Africana is dedicated to the African influence in the Caribbean and Latin America, some of the events scheduled for the evening, such as an Afro-Cuban dance performance, are evocative of the fusion between the two cultures.

Doing research for this year's Fashion Africana event has proven educational for the event's founder.

"I've never taken an African history course, and I'm educating myself in the process," she says.

One of her goals for Fashion Africana as a whole is to educate others about the history and heritage of various countries that have been influenced by African customs and culture.

"We use the unique language of fashion to celebrate a culture," she says. "You can learn so much about a culture through their clothing."

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