Zenith Fashion Show features student designs
The annual Picnic Day fashion show, this year named Zenith, was presented by The Fashion and Design Society and showcased work from students in Design 179: Fashion Design: Signature Collections. The class was given 10 weeks to create a collection that expresses each student’s design perspective and skills. Coming into this show, I didn’t know what to expect. But when I walked in, I immediately felt like I was at a real fashion show with all the chairs running along the sides of the runway. Media was in the back and the photographers were running around trying to get the best photos. The show started with the signature pieces, where designers each showcased one outfit, this year themed Red Dress. There were five dresses and all were very formal.
This was followed by the presentation of each designer’s individual collection. The first designer was Letty Uy with her moonbeams collection. She had four outfits that were all futuristic-looking with hints of purple and silver. I liked her pieces because they reminded me of all the futuristic movies that I loved from the late 90s, like Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. Aggie Style Watch caught up with Uy, a fourth-year design major, to ask her some questions about her collection.
ASW: Can you describe your collection to me?
Uy: My collection is called moonbeams and it is inspired by space travel and opal gemstones, with how they shift light. They change from pink to green to blue which inspired me. It’s a line of clothes that are silver, iridescent, they have accessories and I’m planning on making them light up with LEDs. It’s been a whole process of figuring out what theme I wanted to do. Halfway through the class I changed my theme and had to redo everything.
ASW: What was your inspiration?
Uy: Basically everything about a futuristic way of life. Like when you are growing up you see the Jetsons or Zenon, all these pop culture references about a future way of living. I wanted to embody that in my collection, it’s something I wish life was.
ASW: How long have you been working on this?
Uy: I have been thinking about this since summer but I physically started working on this during Winter Quarter. We have a design class called Signature Collection where we spend 10 weeks just making our collection.
ASW: How many fashion shows have you been in?
Uy: This will be my second one. My first one was just one outfit but this time I have a full collection.
ASW: Do you have any advice for people who want to start designing?
Uy: I think that if you have an idea, go for it. If you’re worried you don’t have the skills to sew or make things, it’s totally fine. Going into this class, I didn’t know as much as I do now. Just go for it.
ASW: Do you have anything else to add?
Uy: Everyone has been working extremely hard on this; there have been a lot of sleepless nights.
I also liked // Miami, designed by Rachel Chambers, because it was bright and fun. Her inspiration for this collection was beach clubbing, specifically outfits that work for going to the beach and then the club right after. She managed to make these simple designs so vibrant and colorful that you forget that it’s merely a bathing suit. Chambers was also one of the only designers to use male models. One of the other collections that I thought was creative was Unveil by Dee Dee Yang. Each of the outfits began with the model walking down the runway with a jacket buttoned up, but by the end of the runway the jacket would be removed, revealing an unexpected top underneath.
The atmosphere of the fashion show was cheerful and full of energy, partially because we were all in an air-conditioned room on a sweltering Picnic Day, but mostly because you couldn’t help but be excited for the designers who had put so much hard work into these collections.
WRITTEN BY: CaraJoy Kleinrock – arts@theaggie.org
