Behind the curtains, eight models waited to strut their designs on the runway, all dressed in handmade outfits made by FAU’s fashion club, Material World.
On Nov. 19, at 7 p.m., Material World held an urban fashion show in the Grand Palm Room where they showed off their members’ designing and modeling skills. The club has one to two fashion shows a semester. This has been their first show since last spring in April and their first show in which members designed the clothing.
“It was a really fun stress, that one stress every girl enjoys,” Angela Caruso, a senior business management major and host, said.
There were six fashion designers, three of which also modeled clothing and one who modeled accessories such as a bright red bow she designed tied around a model’s neck draping down her back like a cape.
The designers held sewing parties once a week to work on their collection. Once their collection was complete, they steamed, ironed and prepped all of the clothes for the show.
Thivy Pham, a sophomore international business and marketing major, sported a bubbly floral dress, with a zipper running down the top of the dress surrounded by black fabric as she walked down the runway with her hands on her hips. She stopped walking to strike a pose as members of the audience screamed for her. She flashed a smile to the crowd and continued down the runway.
This isn’t Pham’s first time, she’s been modeling since she was 13 years old and designing clothes since her sophomore year in high school.
After two weeks of getting ideas, sketching out her design, buying the fabric, getting out her sewing machine, making the measurements and then sewing it all together — she finally made her dress.
The eight models wore attire ranging from a floral bandeau top with straps crossing in the back, paired with high waisted shorts to a black jumpsuit with a bright yellow belt around the waist. They walked down the runway, posing and smiling at the audience of approximately 70 people out of over 150 seats set up.
Since last spring, the club has been fundraising for the event by selling candy in the Breezeway. The money went toward the fabric, needles and thread to create the clothing.
NTB Dance Studio was the opening act and danced to songs like PSY’s Gangnam Style. “This [fashion show] was urban, so we picked hip hop dancers,” Caruso said.
A young girl dressed up in a black blazer with pink cuffs, a T-shirt and black pants started off the dance on stage. As she hopped off, two older dancers in similar outfits came up behind her and joined in on the choreography.
Following the dance group’s performance, Caruso announced the club’s annual catwalk contest, in which members of the audience got to walk on the stage as if they were a model, and one lucky winner gets a prize.
This year’s prize was a $20 Starbucks gift card, handed out to the winner, Miriam Estime, freshman undecided major.
“It built my confidence up,” Estime said. “It’s something I actually want to do.”
Material World is a group interested in advancing students’ goals and dreams who aspire to model or create their own clothing. This was showcased at the urban fashion show, where three of the designers modeled their clothing themselves.
Material World holds meetings every Monday at 7 p.m. in Majestic Palm Room B.
