Kent State University fashion students will dazzle audiences with their designs at the school’s annual fashion show from April 24 to April 26. The internationally and nationally recognized school of fashion will feature collections including streetwear, ready-to-wear, menswear and eveningwear by 41 student designers.
Color and silhouettes stand out in this year’s show, said Hillary Stone, professor, industry liaison and internship director for KSU School of Fashion.
“The collections represent the efforts of our school’s mission, which is to ‘transform lives through creative fashion education in pursuit of a sustainable world,’” Stone, who is a board member of Hillel at Kent State University, told the Cleveland Jewish News.
The fashion school’s biggest event of the year is produced by KSU seniors in merchandising Amelia Gardner and Brett Ashley Richter.
“I am so excited for this year in particular, not just because of the incredible group of designers and the team behind the show, but also because this year’s show is going to feel completely different,” Richter told the CJN. “It’s in a new setting and we’re really trying to push the boundaries this year and explore.”
The show gives an opportunity to tell the unique stories of the designers who comprise a very diverse group of students, Gardner told the CJN.
Some of the students have centered their collections on their personal connections to their culture or life experience, while others have developed collections based on innovative textile techniques, she said.
The show is directed by faculty members Joanne Arnett and Sue Yoder, and will feature a full week of activities, with participation by students in design, merchandising, public relations, stage management and modeling.
Student designer and fashion show participant Stefan Zalejski, a senior in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in fashion design program, took inspiration from “early 20th century French workwear, choosing durable fabrics such as denim, corduroy and wool to promote longevity within fashion,” and he also dyed fabrics with natural indigo, giving every garment a blue hue.
“Students are more dedicated than ever in integrating the principles of sustainability and circularity in design principles,” Stone said.
Designers in residence, senior designer Joslyn Allen-Fecik, and Manel Garcia Espejo and Michael Ward, co-founders of the Salting in New York, worked with students through the year on their collections and single-work submissions. Phantashia Johnson, technical designer at Lane Bryant, and Heike Jarick, of Heike-NY, are critiquing students’ work.
Junior Maya Saba, a design major, said she has been involved in a previous show as a model. There’s so much to learn by being involved in some facet of the show, learning what works and what doesn’t, she said. Saba, who will be vice president of engagement of the student board of KSU Hillel, said her goal is to feature a couple of pieces in next year’s show.
Luxury shoe designer Donald J. Pliner is this year’s hall of fame inductee and joins a roster of esteemed designers including Estee Lauder, Oscar de la Renta, Dame Zandra Rhodes, Omar Salam, Kenneth Cole, Dana Buchman, Josie Natori and Leonardo Ferragamo.
Opening night’s fashion show, open to KSU students, is at 7 p.m. April 24 at Crawford Hall at 100 Midway Drive in Kent. The Awards Night Fashion Show, open to the public, is at 7 p.m. April 25 at Crawford Hall. Tickets are $75 and the event will feature a fashion show, awards and a dessert reception.
The gala, to benefit the fashion school and its hall of fame, is at 6:30 p.m. April 26 and is also at Crawford Hall. Ticket are $250.
One of the top 25 fashion programs in the world and sixth in the U.S., KSU’s school of fashion offers additional educational programming through partnerships in New York City, Paris, Florence and Hong Kong.
For a list of events and to purchase tickets, visit kent.edu/fashion/annual-fashion-show.
S.A. McSherry is a freelance journalist.
