How far would you go for a killer outfit? An hour before the show, crammed in a busy ASPB room, 16 undergraduate student designers patiently and nervously waited to present their high fashion moments. Outside it was pouring rain as I was directed to HUB 302 North where the show would be held. Upstairs, a commotion of students also waited. The sound of tearing ASPB wristbands and people chattering kept the room busy until the start of the event at 6 pm. By 6:30 pm students were piling up in long lines to get free items such as DIY fans, magazine photoshoots and the most popular of items: a white “Haute Couture” bandanna that many students iconically started wearing as a head scarf.
Once inside, people seated themselves around the runway as they wished. I noticed many students showed up in their own very well-curated outfits. Around me were silk dresses and a girl in a head-to-toe 70’s inspired outfit. One guy thanked his friend for not letting him underdress for the show. At 7:20 the lights dimmed, and the words “Haute Couture” projected above the runway. The two hosts for the night walked out, introduced themselves, and the show began.
One by one each artist walked down the runway giving their own bit of flair and personality in their walk. Evelyn Gonzalez was one of the artists who took the stage. Her look stressed sustainability and a Y2K-inspired design. In a quick comment after the show she said “My design is kind of inspired by Bratz and the early 2000s style (we point out her denim hat and leather knee-high boots) and basically, everything I’m wearing except my jewelry is thrifted and second hand… I support a lot of sustainable fashion and I try to express that.”
Some artists had so much fun they wished the show would have been longer. Rose Adrianza and Killian were some fan favorites. Rose walked down the runway with a gothic but elegant all-black design. The silk black opera gloves and exaggerated lace shoulders were a perfect complement to her pearl jewelry. When I asked her about her artistic direction she said she had fun mixing art and fashion, “So I put pearls, I put little accessories together into this outfit, because that’s a piece of art to me, adding more and more design. That’s just how I wanted to do it”. Killian boldly wore their Halloween costume, the queen of hearts, with a long white lace veil draping behind. Killian’s fierceness and confidence won over the crowd, “Honestly I felt so pretty in this…I’m in this outfit representing my queerness and my identity as a plus-sized person…”
The nerves were definitely up but a couple of artists expressed their gratitude for meeting other designers and for the opportunity to show their creativity. John Barcenas who was inspired by Lucky Daye and his genderless expression said, “I was a little nervous but overall hearing that everyone else was walking with confidence and acting like they weren’t [nervous] kind of inspired me to like not care in a sense.”
My only critique of the show was not being able to hear the designer’s artist statements as they walked. Hopefully, in future shows, the audience will be encouraged to hold their applause till the end to truly give each artist their moment of expression.
The show concluded with a final walk of all designers with each artist getting a paparazzi flash as they reach the end of the runway. The show was an overall fun time seeing a range of artists from Edgar Jiminez who wore a slick 1920s head-to-toe suit complete with a top hat to modern-day street fashion such as Jaime Ochoa in F/W 22 Basketcase and 90s double knee Carhartt’s. Hopefully, this is only the beginning of a tradition of showcasing UCR student creativity.
