For assistant professor Theresa Winge, the annual Apparel and Textile Design Fashion Show is the place where sketchbook dreams become runway reality.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but I really do like to see the students get to see their work go out on the runway,” Winge, the show’s co-director said. “We get to stand in the back and listen for people’s reactions.”
Numerous designs submitted by apparel and textile design students are chosen each year for the show, which will be held March 24 at Wharton Center.
Among a sea of more than 150 submissions, student co-director Taylor Varner said about 80 designs were chosen for the runway show. She said she was looking for an outside-the-box perspective on fashion.
“One of the main things (we looked for) was how innovative it was, if we’d seen anything like it before,” Varner said. “In most of our apparel classes, our teachers want us to push the limits with what we can do and what we think fashion is. We look for stuff that’s really outstanding.”
With many students required to design and sew their own corsets for a class, Varner said several were incorporated into the show. She said experimentation with fabric has become a trend reflected in the clothing as well.
“There was a dress made of playing cards, and we had one girl use bouncy balls and made a dress out of it,” she said. “Students are thinking outside the box as far as what they can use in certain fabric.”
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the MSU College of Arts and Letters, Varner said the show will host a tribute to fashion icons from the past 50 years, called FASH Forward. Designers will depict the style of several icons, such as Twiggy, Elizabeth Taylor and Cyndi Lauper.
Junior director Shannon Gillespie said she’s excited to see the outcome of the segment.
“I’m looking forward to seeing that,” she said. “It’s all inspired by icons, and we’ve never done that before.”
Varner said the show is all about the cutting edge.
“We’re always trying to be creative and think of new ways to put together design,” she said. “It’s taking the stuff on the streets to the next level and the most elaborate thing that we can do.”
Once the lights dim on the runway, Winge said she wants attendees to accept the program as an outlet for creativity.
“I want them to understand that MSU has a fashion program housed in the art department that allows a lot of latitude to be very creative and innovative,” Winge said. “They’re going to do great things when they get into
the industry.”
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