Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles seniors wrapped up their final year at the 41st Annual Fashion Show April 6.
From collections inspired by Chinese culture and bohemian styles to classic street style and Rococo, the designers created not just pieces of clothes, but art. Each designer worked hard to make their capstone projects for the fashion show come to life.
Senior designer Sydney Campbell was nervous before her collection “Am Agave” went down the runway.
“I hope [the audience] will be able to pick up on what I tried to put into it,” she said. “I hope that they can tell without me having to say anything.”
“Am Agave” was a streamlined, somewhat ‘60s-inspired collection with fun aspects, pops of color and notes of masculine dress in its pantsuits. The collection came together for a glamorous vintage twist.
“I want [the models] to feel confident and act like it and I’ve told them if they want to change their hair to a certain way and do their makeup a bit differently to make them feel better,” Campbell said.
Waiting in anticipation for the show to open, she said she was grateful she finished her collection and excited for the public to see her hard work. But thinking about what will come once the show ends and she walks out of Beasley Coliseum’s doors is hard for Campbell.
“It’s just hard when you have a goal and then once you finish the goal, it’s like, what now?” she said. “I guess I am trying to think about things I can make next.”
Ella Marvin, model for Campbell’s collection, said she felt empowered while wearing Campbell’s garments.
“She just really made it fit well to me and really enhanced the features I wanted to enhance and so I just feel really powerful and really cool,” she said.
Marvin was in the fashion show last year, and she loves what the show embodies for these designers.
“I just wanted to be a part of the experience again because it’s like a big family here and everyone has such a great experience talking and hanging out with each other,” Marvin said. “And also when you go on stage, with the lights at you, it just feels really unimaginable.”
Campbell’s collection won the Dean’s Choice Award at the end of the show.
Sophie Freel, model for Maddy Anderson’s, senior design major, collection “Grow,” said she was a little nervous to go down the runway due to her outfit.
“I’m wearing a wire cage, so I am a little nervous about walking in it but I’m really excited because nobody else has something like this,” she said. “I feel really unique, it reminds me of the Capitol from ‘The Hunger Games’ a little bit especially with the hair and makeup.”
Maddy touched up Freel’s outfit backstage 30 minutes before the show started to get it fitted for Freel. Then, her collection was ready to go down the runway, Anderson said.
“Grow” is a bohemian style-inspired collection — perfect for the Palouse’s environment and scenery, as Maddy took inspiration from nature and farms. The collection consists of elegant silhouettes, muted color tones, and extravagant yet precise patchwork with a grungy tone.
“Just seeing my clothes on stage too was just, that was cool. That was the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “It was rewarding. The whole experience seeing my models on stage, watching them do their thing, hearing the crowd cheer, crazy.”
Maddy’s parents Daylan Warnock and Brian Anderson were no doubt very proud of their daughter, who received an award for having the most social awareness with her collection at the end of the night.
“I want to be like something that people buy and wear. I don’t want to be successful on [just] that and just hopefully make designs more sustainable,” she said.
Her parents were not surprised in the slightest.
“Honestly it fits her because she upcycles everything and she’s sustainable. If there is an award [in this category] they’d call it Maddy,” Brian said.
Warnock said the sky is the limit for their daughter’s future in the fashion industry.
“She shines so bright and no matter what she does, she impacts people positively and so she’s gonna do whatever she wants,” her mother said.
Her father fantasized during the show about what their and Maddy’s future will be.
“When I talked to [Warnock] during the show, I’m like, ‘Get ready to sit next to each other in New York Fashion Week,’” he said.
With the fashion show now over, Anderson is discovering what she plans to do after her experience designing for the show.
“Even if nothing came out of it, even [if] I never designed another piece in my entire life, which that will never happen, that experience will be with me for my entire life,” she said. “I’ve always doubted myself as a designer and that was the moment where I’m like OK, I will make a name for myself. People will know who I am.”
The following designers received awards for the collections they created:
- Rising Star: Kiah Conway & Fabian Solano
- Most Innovative: Spencer Pugh
- Most Socially Aware: Maddy Anderson
- Most Marketable: Daden Tommasi
- Most Technical: Thomas Christoferson
- Departments Choice: Amanda Moed
- Associate Dean’s Choice: Yale Bonnet
- Dean’s Choice: Sydney Campbell
- Best in Show: Luis Giles
