East Lansing rolls out the runway

MSU hosts annual student fashion show

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Friday, March 22 — Students in the Apparel and Textile Design program at Michigan State University will unveil their annual fashion show Sunday, featuring 90 designs that students have worked on for the past year. The budding fashionistas will vie for one of the 10 possible awards. Theresa Winge, director of the show, promises a unique experience.

“This is not a typical fashion show,” Winge said. “Students are designing avant-garde clothing. You won't see something here that you'd find at Target.”

Submissions were narrowed down by a jury of students and staff from the over 200 designs that were submitted for the show. Students were free to submit any designs that had previously received at least one formal critique, although Winge said that many of the submissions focus on a particular theme that is stressed by the department.

“Sustainable, but beautiful,” Winge said. “We'll see gorgeous eco-fabrics and natural designs, often influenced by the cultural classes that students are required to take.”

The event will open with a special FASH Forward design competition, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the College of Arts and Letters. The contest features 33 student designs, each paying homage to icons in the last 50 years of fashion. Awards will be given to one design for each of the past five decades, as well as a best overall design. Winge said audiences can expect to see designs imitating celebrity styles such as Lady Gaga and Elton John.

In addition to having work judged by faculty members, a professional from the fashion industry will join the jury table. Last year featured a guest from Calvin Klein, and this year's contest will be co-judged by Heather Grdinic, Senior Instructional Designer at Nordstrom. Awards will be given for most creative, best concept, best overall and judges' choice.

While the show will satisfy the fashionistas and design-conscious audience members, it is open to the public and should draw anyone curious about the idea of a runway show in East Lansing. Winge said she hopes to have a diverse audience of students, faculty and general public, as well as a mix of younger and older patrons.

“It is just a beautiful delight to watch fashion that is moving art,” Winge said. “It is something you'd expect to see in a theater, and definitely not anything you'd typically get to see in the Midwest.”

2013 Apparel and Textile Design Fashion Show
7 p.m. Sunday
Pasant Theater, Wharton Center
East Lansing
$13
(800) WHARTON
whartoncenter.com

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