After a few hectic days of final preparation, 10 designs from a UA alumna’s clothing line were shown Wednesday night in the kick-off show for Miami Fashion Week, also known as FASHIONmiami.

“Things have been pretty crazy,” Smith Sinrod, 24, said in a phone interview the day of the show. “I always try to over prepare, but in the fashion industry, I’m learning that there is no such thing as being fully prepared.”

Monday, sitting poolside on the roof of the Catalina Hotel in South Beach Miami, Sinrod, who graduated with a degree in apparel design in spring 2009, said she cast models while MTV cameras filmed the process.

“MTV was there filming everything because … Whitney Port from ‘The City’ was chosen [to be featured in the show] as well,” Sinrod said. “Whitney and I are actually sharing models for the runway show … so it was interesting to give each other feedback as far as which models look the best in each of our designs.”

In the days leading up to the show, she said it all felt surreal.

“To have models waiting to model my designs is a pretty awesome feeling. The experience for the casting was overall really cool, except for the MTV camera crews making me redo real things over and over again,” she said.

After Monday’s daylong casting session, Sinrod prepared for the week’s Tuesday night launch party.

“An hour before the launch party, my model that was going to showcase one of my looks cancelled, so I had to call any and every modeling agency in Miami looking for a replacement,” she said. “Of course, it all ended up working out, and I found the perfect model, but crazed moments like that make me realize, ‘Wow, I’m really doing this.’ ”

Despite the stresses the week brought, Sinrod said she remained optimistic.

Sinrod was chosen to be included in Miami Fashion Week after the Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion Competition named her one of the year’s top five emerging designers. Gen Art, which is affiliated with FASHIONmiami, showcases new designers, and Fresh Faces in Fashion is its annual anchor event, Sinrod said.

“The shows take place in high-profile locations for 700 to 1,000 guests, including fashion industry members, press, celebrities and Gen Art supporters,” she said.

There was never a time in her life when Sinrod said she wasn’t thinking of fashion, and as a child, she would go to school wearing ensembles she had put together herself.

“I should thank my parents for giving me that freedom, despite the creative consequences,” she said.

Sinrod said she learned to perfect her fashion sense during her time at the University, and the fashion department helped a lot as well.

“My department was awesome,” she said. “When I got to college, I didn’t even know how to sew, and I learned how to do everything that I know now, sketching, pattern work, draping, everything through [UA’s] fashion department.”

Two days after she graduated, Sinrod flew to Thailand to search out sources for fabric and manufacturing to start her clothing line, By Smith.

“I had my business plan mapped out before I graduated, and I started right away,” she said.

Today, By Smith is sold in stores spanning 10 states, Sinrod said. A detailed list is on the company’s Web site, smittenbysmith.com.

Sinrod’s designs are inspired by places, and she said London inspired her fall 2010 collection.

“The theme of my line has stayed very consistent throughout each collection,” she said. “I love to use classic silhouettes and jazz them up with brightly colored fabric, shapes and bold prints. My ‘girl’ is young and adventurous and expresses herself through her clothing.”

More than 1,000 people were expected to attend Wednesday’s runway show.

“Gen Art brings the ‘right’ people to their events, so this is very exciting for me and my business,” Sinrod said. “I am just honored to get picked for this so early on. I just hope to keep expanding my line nationwide. This opportunity with Gen Art is showing me that the sky is the limit.”

After Miami Fashion Week is over, Sinrod said, she’ll be back to looking for stores to carry her line.

“I feel like my job is never ending, but it’s fun to go to work when you are living out your dream and loving what you do,” she said.