Behind the Red: Nate Mohle and Rikke Bahena Bring Red Dress Party to Life

Red Dress Party San Diego 2026 Zodiac Rising

By Cesar A Reyes

Every great party begins well before the doors open. For Red Dress Party San Diego, it begins with an idea, a camera, a little imagination and a creative team willing to push things just a little further. For 2026, much of that vision is being shaped by two people who know the event from very different sides of the lens: Nate Mohle, the longtime creative force behind its marketing and visual direction, and photographer Rikke Bahena, who first appeared in the campaign as a model before stepping behind the camera. Together, they are helping bring this year’s Zodiac Rising theme to life, creating the images and energy that will invite more than a thousand people to put on their best red and come together for a night that is as much about community as it is about celebration.

There is plenty to get excited about. This year, Red Dress Party takes over The Nat in Balboa Park, with DJ KURTYKA headlining and Aaron Elvis opening. The Estrella Lounge, presented by Impulse San Diego, will bring Latin rooftop energy to the evening with a Latin DJ, performances and art by Art of Pride. Go-go dancers, a face jewel artist, tarot card readers, acrobatic artists and a 360 photo experience will add to the spectacle. VIP guests and those enjoying the LUX Lounges can even expect naked sushi.

But behind all the glamour, feathers, sequins, red dresses and late-night dancing is something much more meaningful. Red Dress Party is a celebration with a purpose, raising funds and awareness for critical HIV services and programs in San Diego. And for Mohle and Bahena, that purpose is what makes the creative work worth doing.

“Because fabulous can have a purpose,” Mohle says.

It is a simple idea, but it captures the spirit of Red Dress Party perfectly. Take the glamour, creativity, music and sheer joy of getting dressed up, then use all of it to bring people together for something bigger than a night out.

For Mohle, that has been the motivation for 12 years.

By day, Mohle works in home health physical therapy. Away from his day job, he brings a very different set of skills to Red Dress Party. With a degree in graphic design and a background in entertainment design, he has spent much of the past 12 years helping shape what people see before they ever walk through the doors.

For roughly six months every year, his nights and weekends become Red Dress Party territory. Concepts are developed. Models are cast. Video is shot. Photos are edited. Graphics are designed. Social media is programmed. And somehow, all of it has to come together to create enough excitement to make people want to experience the party for themselves.

Most people see the finished product. Mohle sees all the work that happens before it.

“I’ve spent most of my 12 years behind the scenes,” he smiles. “So it’s fun to finally say, ‘Hi, yes, there is an actual person behind all of this sexy, fierce Red Dress Party San Diego social media!’”

That sense of humor is part of what makes his role so fitting. Red Dress Party isn’t an event that asks people to be restrained. It celebrates personality, creativity, fashion, and the freedom to have a little fun with who you are.

Mohle joined the event in its earliest days because he wanted to use his creative skills for something meaningful. Twelve years later, the work has become a major part of his year, but the original motivation remains.

His creative work is also deeply collaborative. Professional photographer Rikke Bahena, award-winning costume designer Jennifer Brawn Gittings and former board member and photographer Emma Brown are among the people who contribute to bringing the campaigns to life.

Bahena’s own Red Dress story is particularly fitting.

He first became involved in 2024, when he was one of the models for that year’s marketing campaign. He experienced the event from the front of the camera, becoming one of the faces used to build excitement around the party.

“It was such an amazing experience to be one of the faces of the event and to see everything that goes into bringing the Red Dress Party to life,” he says.

The experience stayed with him. The following year, Bahena returned, this time with a camera in his hands.

A San Diego-based photographer, bar manager, philanthropist and creative, Bahena has long been connected to the local LGBTQ+ community, both professionally and personally. Photography has given him another way to celebrate that community, and Red Dress Party has provided a particularly colorful canvas.

He moved behind the camera in 2025, becoming the photographer for the marketing campaign. Now he is back for a second year, creating the photographs that will appear in magazines, social media, advertising and other promotional materials.

There is something satisfying about that progression. First, he was part of the picture. Now he helps create it.

“I love being able to bring my creativity and photography skills to the event,” Bahena says, “and create images that are used in magazines, social media, advertising, and other publicity.”

For a photographer, there is always a moment when an image stops belonging to the person who created it and starts belonging to the community. A photograph appears online. Someone shares it. It ends up in a publication. It becomes part of the visual identity of an event.

For Bahena, seeing that happen is especially rewarding because he knows exactly what the images are helping promote.

“For me, it’s especially rewarding to see the final images out in the community and know that my work is helping promote an event with such an important purpose.”

This year’s theme gave the creative team plenty to work with.

Zodiac Rising: “Written in the stars. Radiant in red.”

It is sexy, celestial, mysterious and, as Mohle puts it, “just the right amount of extra.”

The concept brings the 12 signs of the zodiac together for one night and gives the creative team an opportunity to play with personality. Rather than treating the zodiac as a simple decorative theme, the campaign uses it as a way to explore different moods, looks, and characters.

Bahena immediately saw the possibilities.

“I absolutely love this theme because there’s so much you can do with it creatively,” he says.

Each model and ambassador was given an opportunity to embody the energy of a zodiac sign, bringing something of his own personality into the concept. The result is a campaign that feels less like a traditional event advertisement and more like an invitation to play.

Guests can do the same when they arrive.

The zodiac gives everyone permission to interpret the theme in their own way. Maybe your red look is glamorous. Maybe it is outrageous. Maybe it is mysterious. Maybe it has absolutely nothing to do with your actual zodiac sign because you simply found something fabulous and decided it had to be worn.

At Red Dress Party, that counts as a perfectly valid interpretation.

“We’re bringing together all 12 signs of the zodiac for one incredible night,” Bahena says, “and, most importantly, one cause.”

That last part is important.

Because for all the creative energy surrounding Red Dress Party, the reason behind the party has never been just about having a good time.

HIV is still here, and the work is not done.

Funding cuts are putting pressure on testing, prevention, care, and community resources. Think Red Project, which is 100 percent volunteer-run, uses the event to raise funds and awareness supporting critical HIV programs and services in San Diego.

That creates an interesting balance. Red Dress Party asks people to come out, dress up and have fun, but it also asks them to remember why they are there.

Bahena says that combination is one of the things he loves most about the event.

“What I love about the Red Dress Party is that you’re having an amazing time, surrounded by this incredible energy and creativity, but there’s a much bigger purpose behind it.”

That purpose is built into every ticket, sponsorship, and partnership supporting the event.

“You’re not just buying a ticket to a party,” Bahena says. “You’re helping support organizations that are doing important work in our community.”

There is something powerful about giving people a way to contribute without asking them to leave joy at the door. Red Dress Party doesn’t separate celebration from community responsibility. It puts them in the same room.

And that is where the creative work matters.

The photographs Mohle and Bahena create aren’t simply pretty pictures. They are the first invitation. They are what someone sees while scrolling through Instagram, opening a magazine or encountering the event somewhere around San Diego. They create curiosity. They establish the mood. They tell people that something special is coming.

Then the community takes over.

For Mohle, that is the moment he waits for every year.

After roughly six months of working behind the scenes, he gets to stand back and watch the result: more than a thousand people dressed in red, filling a space together.

“After six months behind the scenes, seeing over a thousand people dressed in red is the payoff,” he says. “It’s sexy, joyful, powerful—and it’s our community showing up for one another.”

That final phrase may be the heart of Red Dress Party: showing up.

The volunteers show up. The sponsors show up. The community partners show up. The creative team shows up. The models and ambassadors show up. The performers show up. And, ultimately, the guests show up.

Mohle has one WORD for what the Red Dress Party represents to him: “COMMUNITY.”

It is also the thread connecting his 12 years with the event to Bahena’s journey from model to photographer. Red Dress Party has given both men a place to use their creativity while contributing to something larger than themselves.

This year’s Zodiac Rising campaign is their latest chapter.

Soon, the photographs will give way to the real thing. The Nat will fill with red. Music will take over the room. Costumes will become more elaborate. Cameras will come out. Friends will find each other. Strangers will become part of the same crowd.

And somewhere in that sea of red will be the work of the people who helped make it happen.

The finished campaign may look effortless, but Mohle and Bahena know better. Behind every striking image are hours of planning, collaboration and creative risk. Behind every post is a reason to keep people paying attention. Behind every invitation to party is a reminder that the night has a purpose.

The stars may provide the theme, but it is the people who make Red Dress Party shine.

For one night, more than a thousand people will gather under the banner of Zodiac Rising, dressed in red and ready to celebrate. They’ll dance, laugh, flirt, pose for photographs and embrace the spectacular side of the night.

But they’ll also be doing something much simpler.

They’ll be showing up for their community.

And for Mohle and Bahena, that’s the picture worth creating.