The eighth annual Fashion and Beauty Communications Milestone fashion show will encompass more than just the latest styles and designs — it will comment on education issues and criticize current industry standards.

The sold-out show, which will incorporate the theme “School Daze: Fashion and Education,” will begin at 7 p.m. on the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse III on Friday.

Carla Lloyd, the co-founder of the Fashion and Beauty Communications Milestone, is the show’s creative director and helped develop the concept for the show.

“For a fashion show to occur in a communications school in my view, it should look at the current discourse that is going on within the mass media,” said Lloyd, who is also an advertising professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Connecting the national conversation of literacy among K–12 students regarding standardized testing, curriculum and the debate of the cost of college, Lloyd recognized that those subjects need to be evaluated on a different platform.

“We take on a critical issue that seems to be a hot topic in the mass media and this year, in my view, it was education,” she said.

Incorporating the theme into the show involves eight segments of displays that reflect real-life education issues. These range from an in-depth look into school uniforms to a feature of original clothing by fashion design students for sizes 12 and up.

The latter element of the show is one that co-student director Hannah Ballinger is especially proud of, since it incorporates full-figured models into the show.

“To be honest, one of the best parts has been working with those girls (and) giving the opportunity to everyone to be a model and be in a show — not just a selected few based on the way they look,” said Ballinger, a junior fashion design major.

Supermodel Emme, who is also a Syracuse University alumna, will also be at the show to judge the students’ designs. The Class of 1985 graduate will headline the event and will select a winning look that she will wear on a red carpet appearance.

According to the Newhouse website, the student designers have had the task of working with dress forms donated by New Jersey-based company Wolf Form Co. in sizes 16, 18 and 20. Their designs will be revealed in the closing segment.

Lisa Prywes, communications director for the Fashion and Beauty Communications Milestone, is working with multiple outlets to make sure advertising and publicity goals are continuously met.

“We’ve worked with TNH (a student-run advertising firm) to create the poster, and it’s also the cover of our program,” said Prywes. She added that other student organizations have been vital to the show’s planning, having worked on videography, social media and other promotional elements.

As the preparation for the fashion production is coming to an end, Ballinger said she feels happy to be involved in what she thinks can make a big change.

“This fashion show isn’t just about entertainment,” she said. “We are definitely showing something that hasn’t been seen everywhere before, and I love that I can be a part of that.”

Published on April 7, 2015 at 9:40 pm

Contact Lauren: ljporter@syr.edu