From the Runway

             As the audience took their seats on March 24th, 2013 and the lights dimmed down, a video in the top right of the Pasant Theatre at the Wharton Center, began. The video featured students in the Apparel and Textile Design program at MSU working on their projects that would soon walk down that very stage. This short documentary gave everyone an inside look at the students’ creative processes and how they earned their spots in the annual fashion show. After the video and a brief introduction from the student directors, Martin Flores, Taylor Varner and junior director Shannon Gillespie, the audience saw almost 100 avant-garde pieces created from about 50 different designers.

            Lashes Louru, a garment inspired by supermodel Twiggy, was the first piece to march down the runway. It set the mood for the rest of the sold-out show. The black and white dress with an exaggerated collar made of, what looked like, Twiggy’s very own long lashes was one of the winning designs in the Fash Forward Competition. This College of Arts and Letters competition had students create garments that represented iconic figures in different decades. The audience saw 34 garments which were inspired by Audrey Hepburn, Bridget Bardot, Diana Ross, Stevie Nicks, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Kate Moss, Cher, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and many more.

            As the Fash Forward garments came down the runway, they each walked with a song that represented the decade. There was George Michaels’s leather pants, Kate Moss’s white strips of “glitter” and the cigarette she held while walking down the catwalk. Britney Spears’s jazzed-up flight attendance outfit also made an appearance, but transformed into a tight leather dress.

            After a brief blackout, a piece titled Neurotic, designed by senior Taylor Varner, appeared on the runway with flashing lights that streamed through the garment. The rest of the night was filled with many distinctive designs, including a mini-collection of corsets. The pieces featured the skills these students have learned in their classes. A dress with a screen printed pattern and fabric which perfectly draped on the model were among those skills.

            The show ended with a three piece collection called Unconventional Processes by sophomore Niki Sullivan. The two pieces on the ends seemed to represent dust bunnies while a white, full tulle skirt with a vacuum intricately made into the top piece stood in the middle. As the three garments paced down the catwalk, the audience was in for a surprise. The vacuum attached to the back of the middle garment shot out streams of blue confetti, ending the 2013 Apparel and Textile Design Fashion Show with a bang.