Haute hosts third and final spring fashion show with ‘C.N.T: Couture’s Next Thing’ | Arts & Culture

Boots clanked, eyes rolled and whips cracked as models strutted down the runway to Charli xcx, Aliyah’s Interlude and drag music Monday evening on Miller Learning Center’s Head Terrace. This was the University of Georgia Haute Creatives Collective’s third and final annual fashion show, titled “Couture’s Next Thing (C.N.T.).”

As golden hour washed over the crowd, guests socialized on the stone steps of the terrace and enjoyed refreshments from 6 to 7 p.m., the show’s cocktail hour. Then, a woman with a long black and white blazer and a grand collage of various pearls dangling from her neck walked onto the terrace. This was Haute’s founder and president, Sydnee Eubanks, a senior at UGA majoring in fashion merchandising.

“Today’s show is all about showcasing. It’s really a rebellion, honestly, against the drab and the feeling of bringing back tradition in fashion,” Eubanks said. “I believe fashion should be fun. It should make you think, it should make you feel things whether you love it, whether you hate it, it shouldn’t be traditional, it shouldn’t be boring.”

Eubanks was met with applause from the audience, shortly followed by the blaring of sirens as the first model strutted onto the terrace. Leopard print, fur clothing, silver chains and loud colors were prominent. While the show pulled inspiration from fashion icons like Doechii and Lady Gaga as well as the ‘80s and the 2000s “swag” era, a range of different personas were also taken on by the models.

“Preparing for shows like these, you really want to show a character, almost, and when I wear this outfit, I feel very just unapologetically confident,” Adviti Bhanja, a model for the show and a senior majoring in human development and family sciences, said. ”Over the past three weeks, every time I’d walk, I would really try to make sure I embodied this character, and just practice my facial expression so I could really get the story to go together.”

Bhanja wore a mesh top embroidered with flower designs layered with a black blazer with white ribbons laced onto its sleeves.

Another model sprinted onto the runway with a football in her hand. Silver chains dangled from her shoulder guards, and her shins were plastered with bandaids.

“I looked in my closet and had these football pads and a football jersey and I was like, ‘What can I do with this?’” said Faith Johnston, a senior majoring in fashion and product development responsible for designing the look.

Eubanks said she established Haute because she felt there was a “missing piece” for people of color and LGBTQ+ people in the fashion space at UGA, as well as a space for maximalists and people who want more creative freedom in building their career in fashion.

“I didn’t feel there was a space for a lot of color and a lot of vibrance, maximalism. I think a lot of times when we see fashion here, it’s very minimalist, it’s clean… I would use the word ‘commercial,’” Eubanks said.

However, with Eubanks graduating and her journey at UGA coming to an end, Haute will be going out of operation. “C.N.T.” was the organization’s last show.

At the end of the show, models marched out one by one to create a formation that faced the audience, and then began to dance, marking an upbeat ending to the show and to Haute’s legacy.