April 19, 2013
Fashion show will showcase students’ designs
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Spring is the time to consider clearing out your wardrobe and starting anew.
The season also means that seniors in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Fashion Design and Merchandising program are busily preparing to show their original designs in the annual student showcase and runway fashion show. Eight senior designers have been working feverishly on their eight ensembles of clothing for young women for the runway fashion show, which begins at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 26, in Student Center Ballroom D.
Admission is free, and the public is welcome.
The evening starts at 6 p.m. in the Student Center’s J.W. Corker Lounge with junior- and senior-level fashion design students showing original garments they created. That includes experimental design garments featuring materials including garbage bags, air conditioning filters, nails, plastic spoons and wallpaper; designs interpreting the classic, “Little Black Dress,” and a “Brand Development Collaborative Project,” an exhibition that involves students Laura Morthland’s interior design class and Siwon Cho’s merchandising class. Students used computer-aided design patternmaking software in the “Little Black Dress” creations.
Also included in the runway fashion show is the “2013 Red Dress Collection,” by junior- and senior-level fashion designers. The collection was initially part of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s annual “Red Extravaganza” in February.
The senior designers are responsible for every detail in their creations when models walk the runways -- from finishing designs, coordinating models with outfits, selecting music, and making other last-minute preparations. Another key ingredient is utilizing time management skills.
The designs will also help students build their individual portfolios.
“The senior fashion show gives the students who are serious about getting into the fashion industry a real-life preview of the amount of work and stress that is characteristic of the fashion business,” said Laura K. Kidd, fashion design associate professor. “Their final show also gives them experience in the entire design process -- from concept to final creation.”
More than 125 students from majors all over campus are involved, including students from the Fashion Design and Merchandising program’s Event Planning class. Organizers are also collaborating with cosmetology program students from John A. Logan College for hair and makeup artists for runway models, Kidd said.
The featured senior designers and names of their collections, listed by hometown, are:
Illinois
- Belleville: Kimmie Horton with “Masquerade.”
- Chicago: Morgan Dumas with “S.E.A.M.”
- Chicago: Jasmine Jones with “C.o.A”
- Effingham: Theresa Sparks with “Going Public.”
- Fairfield: Erin Jones with “Sheer Elegance.”
- Pinckneyville: Sabrina Dobrinick with “Embrace.”
- Wheeling: Lupita Rosendo with “Midnight Elegance.”
Missouri
- Jennifer Sutton with “Prepitude.”