Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Fashion show teaches more than design Students and faculty from across the university are taking part in a fashion show for Uni...
Fashion show teaches more than design
Fashion show teaches more than design
Students and faculty from across the university are taking part in a fashion show for University of Nebraska-Lincoln design students.
The show is culmination of two years of work for juniors, seniors and graduate students in the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design, said department chairman Michael James. It's also the grand unveiling of the department's new name: the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, he said.
This year, it's not just the fashion students who will be working until the last minute, making sure everything is perfect.
For the first time, the show will involve students and faculty from across the university, James said.
The theater department will do the lighting, which includes the projection of images and video onto two huge panels flanking the runway, which also are new this year.
In the music department, students composed an original soundtrack for the event and also will handle sound design.
Students in the hospitality, restaurant and tourism management program will prepare and serve a four-course meal to 100 underwriters before the show.
And the College of Journalism and Mass Communication's student-run advertising agency, Jacht Club, has been working since December to promote the event on campus and beyond.
"We wanted the students to have a professional experience," James said.
The department also wants to catch the attention of prospective fashion students. The show will be videotaped and posted on the college's website, and James is hopeful that the professional sound and lighting, video projections and other new elements will wow promising high schoolers.
Prospective fashion students are sophisticated, he said. They look at Style.com. They watch "Project Runway."
"When it comes to fashion, they expect things to look pretty slick," he said.
Mallory Vogt, a senior advertising and public relations major, said she and other Jacht Club members coordinated a social media-heavy campaign, including Pinterest boards in which designers were able to share things they found inspiring.
"We tried to be creative since it's a fashion show," she said.
The Jacht Club's efforts seem to be working — tickets are going fast.
Garments in the show — about 130 in all — include sportswear, cocktail dresses, evening gowns and pieces that blur the line between fashion and sculpture, James said. Additionally, many garments in the show are made from fabric students designed using the school's digital textile printer, James said.
