The College of Human Environmental Sciences will host its annual senior fashion show, “Fashion for Life,” at the Bryant Conference Center tonight. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the runway will begin at 7:30 p.m. “Fashion for Life” is a fashion show required for seniors to take part in for their class CTD 450, Advanced Apparel Design. Twenty-six seniors will showcase their talent tonight with five garments made from scratch and a maximum of ten looks.
“If you don’t do a show, you have no idea what the real world of fashion is going to be like,” said Theresa Mince, president of Fashion, Inc. and a senior majoring in apparel design.
Designers have their own theme and inspiration for their showcase. Mince’s inspiration came from how she grew up. She and her sister spent time playing with Barbie dolls while their brother was in a punk band. The name of her collection is “Glam Punk,” after the genre of music. It is a punk style mixed with Barbie influence.
“I’m not the typical design student,” Mince said. “I [also] want to be in plus size fashion.” Public relations specialist of Fashion, Inc. Lindsay Cornelson, a junior, shared a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes work for the show. She is currently a hairdresser and will be styling the hair of one of the models. She also went around making phone calls to various news media and landed a spot on ABC 33/40, Birmingham News.
“It’s never been this big before,” Mince said.
The design department is shooting for around 1,000 attendees. Last year’s show, “Rock the Runway,” had over 1,000 people attend. General admission is $8 and student admission is $5. All proceeds will benefit West Alabama Aids and United Way.
Cornelson said there is an after party planned at Icon, located at 613 Greensboro Ave., following the event. Icon donated armbands for tickets for “Fashion for Life.” It is a 19-and-up bar with no cover the night of the event. Both Cornelson and Mince stress attending this event.
“It’s a huge deal to see what the design program is doing…we don’t have a fashion scene in Alabama,” Mince said. “These seniors will become big players in the fashion scene. [This fashion] is from us, not New York.”
Big names have already come out of the design department here at the University. For example, designer Anthony Williams, a University of Alabama graduate, was featured on the show Project Runway and served as a style consultant for the VH1 show “Single Ladies.”
Williams is paving the way for more UA students to pursue their careers in the fashion industry.
