Photo courtesy of Southwest Minnesota State University Suree Sompamitwong is a 2022 graduate of Southwest Minnesota State University and will be unveiling a line of streetwear at Fashion Week Minnesota on Sept. 19.

WORTHINGTON — Art and fashion have been two big parts of Suree Sompamitwong’s life. Now, they’re coming together on the runway at Fashion Week Minnesota.

Sompamitwong, a 2022 graduate of Southwest Minnesota State University, created a clothing line that will make its debut at a fashion show starting Monday in Minneapolis.

“It’s been such a whirlwind,” Sompamitwong said of getting ready for the show.

Sompamitwong’s clothing brand, ArtInvasionz, showcases artwork by Minnesota artists on streetwear like T-shirts and hoodies.

“I want to bring powerful artwork into our daily lives,” Sompamitwong said.

That was the idea behind ArtInvasionz.

“Art is not supposed to fit in a box,” she said.

Created in 2015, Fashion Week Minnesota holds spring and fall events highlighting the Minnesota fashion community. This fall, fashion shows and other events will be held Monday through Sept. 24.

For Sompamitwong, designing a clothing line was a return to something she’s always loved.

“I knew I wanted to be a designer,” she said.

In 2014, Sompamitwong moved to Los Angeles to work in the fashion industry, and worked her way up to becoming the creative director for a women’s clothing company.

Sompamitwong returned to Minnesota after struggling with her mental health, and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. However, she didn’t stop working with creative expression.

“When I returned home, I started diving into holistic healing,” Sompamitwong said.

She founded Creative Healing Space, a nonprofit in Worthington that promotes mental health and healing through art.

This year, Sompamitwong was awarded an Ignite Rural artist residency grant, and she decided to bring two of her passions — fashion and community art — together.

“I decided to do a clothing line,” she said.

Earlier this year, she put out a call for artists to partner with for the ArtInvasionz brand.

“I would describe it as an edgy streetwear,” Sompamitwong said of ArtInvasionz’s style.

The artwork featured in the clothing line also focuses on topics like mental health and social justice.

ArtInvasionz was accepted into a show at Fashion Week Minnesota. It will be one of the clothing lines featured at the Coalesce: 1922 fashion show on Monday. The Coalesce: 1922 show will be centered on AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) voices.

“I’m the only streetwear brand,” Sompamitwong said of the show.

She also hopes ArtInvasionz will stand out for its message and community connections. Sompamitwong said she worked with the producers of the fashion show to be able to display some of the original sculptures and paintings that were featured in the ArtInvasionz clothing line.

“That’s super special,” she said.

It’s hard to get the full power of a piece of artwork by looking at a shirt design, she said.

Sompamitwong also recruited her own runway models from the Worthington community.

“I wanted my models to be beautiful for who they were,” she said.

The goal for ArtInvasionz will be to help support Creative Healing Space, Sompamitwong said. She said 20% of the proceeds from sales of the clothing line will go back to the nonprofit.