On Karen Bakke’s cue, students at the third annual Fashion Communications Fashion Show put the finishing touches on styling their hair and polishing their makeup.

‘Let the wild rumpus begin!’ said the associate fashion design professor and co-founder of the Fashion and Beauty Communication Milestone.

Models ran to line up at the door as the show, entitled ‘The Revolution is Now!: Media in a time of utter transformation expressed through fashion,’ kicked off at the Newhouse 1 lobby, in front of a packed audience Friday night.

Wearing crumpled newspaper as their headdresses, even the models’ hair communicated with the audience. Each piece of jewelry, which was provided by senior fashion design major Jamie Gulbrandsen, had its own special look that was supposed to tell her personal stories.

‘Everything is one of a kind and special, and every piece has a story attached to it,’ said Gulbrandsen. ‘I like to think the stories are heard when people wear the jewelry.’

Sponsored by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Fashion Communications Milestone, the show was produced by VPA’s fashion design program at SU. The Milestone program is a concentration curriculum that allows students to focus on fashion and beauty as the means of communication.

The overarching theme of the show was more of change than communicating.

‘The media is truly in a state of revolution,’ said Carla Lloyd, associate dean for creative and scholarly activity at Newhouse and co-founder of the Fashion and Beauty Communications Milestone. ‘The fashion show will explore this major transformation.’

The show started with samples from the private collection of Jeffrey Mayer, an associate professor of fashion design and one of the show’s organizers. Mayer presented six vintage looks, including ‘The New Look,’ a style that revolutionized fashion in the 1950s. The short go-go dress that was important in the social revolution of the 1960s was also featured in the show.

Then the freshmen fashion design majors showed off their sculptural class projects, which are architecturally designed clothing created to resemble something other than clothing.

Laura Renfro, a freshman fashion design major, created a compelling design that includes stripes of painted muslin fabric wrapped around the model’s body. Parts of the fabric projected out, giving the impression of sparks. The whole outfit was meant to resemble fireworks. When Renfro’s model hit the runway, the audience ooh-ed and ah-ed as lights on her piece flashed.

‘My favorite part is seeing the art that is put into the fashions. The design (process) leading up to the show is really interesting,’ said Emmi Tran, a senior from West Genesee High School. Tran was given the opportunity to watch the show and help with makeup backstage when her teacher, who has contacts in the Milestone program, asked students if they wanted to attend.

Many students used art as inspiration for their designs. Senior fashion design major Abby Kinzel presented a puffy tulle dress that was reminiscent of the famous Edgar Degas painting ‘The Dance Class’ and his sculpture ‘La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans’ (‘Little Dancer of Fourteen Years’).

The show continued with casual, cocktail and evening wear designs from students of all levels. Audience members clapped and discussed the designs as models swayed to techno beats onstage.

Then for the grand finale, the senior fashion design students each presented a preview of their senior collections, projects consisting of six to eight pieces that students complete in their senior year.

‘The show is great, because it lets me see what my pieces look like on the runway before the final show,’ said Tatiana Beckles, a senior fashion design major who put two of her final collection pieces in the show. ‘I can see how the audience reacts to them ahead of time.’

While this year’s Fashion Communications Fashion Show had designs from a whole range of people and a range of meaning, it exemplified change in the media, something that particularly resonated with Newhouse students and faculty.

‘Newspapers are morphing into something other than print,’ Lloyd said. ‘The revolution is now.’

ampaye@syr.edu

Published on April 5, 2009 at 12:00 pm