Casually dressed, sweatpants rolled up to the calves, WSU student volunteer models strapped on their high heels and attitudes to strut down the masking tape runway to the tunes of Lady Gaga and Madonna.
Student models and designers whooped and shouted as they made their way down makeshift runways.
Over 45 minutes of warm-ups, the walks became more confident and poses were struck with locked joints, flicked wrists and squinted eyes. Once the students had fully transformed into models, they splintered off to find their assigned designers.
Designers and models began pointing insistently at the masking tape on the floor, gesturing around themselves as if seeing and feeling the clothes under the bright lights of Beasley Coliseum.
Those designers with more cumbersome designs practiced with the models burdened with the tall or wide outfits, and the energy in the room shifted as those selected to sample the designs made their way down the runway.
One such model was Sara Burres, a senior biology pre-med student and longtime volunteer model.
“I’ve been modeling since my freshman year,” Burres said.
As an experienced model, Burres has a fine-tuned routine to prepare for her walk.
“Going down the runway, my mind is honestly a little blank,” she said. “Before the runway, that’s where all the work happens. It’s like muscle memory.”
The Apparel, Merchandising, Design & Textiles fashion show will feature 21 senior AMDT students presenting their final collections, along with other AMDT students showcasing their work.
Each year, the fashion show operates under a theme. This year’s theme is Metanoia. The word originates from Ancient Greek and means “to change one’s mind.”
“I think of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly,” Burres said.
Designers interpret the theme in different ways for their collections.
“My collection is ‘Celestial.’ It’s all about the planets and the stars,” said Alyss Pignet, senior AMDT student and featured designer. “Growing up, I loved the stars and the planets, so I really wanted to implement that into my collection.”
For Pignet, fashion is an outlet for creativity.
“I love how I can make something very simple [and] very extreme. It’s just a beautiful art piece that everybody makes—it’s like moving art,” she said.
Fashion has been a staple in the lives of Pignet and Burres since childhood and their involvement in the AMDT fashion show brings those childhood dreams to life.
“I make clothing for the little me who would make little pictures and dress up my Barbie and wanted to be a Paris fashion designer,” Pignet said. “The child in me wanted to be a little fashionista when she grew up.”
For Burres, fashion is a creative outlet.
“Being in biology and going into a very non-creative field, it’s a way for me to keep my sanity, to express my inner child,” she said. “It makes me happy to put on an outfit every day and strut my stuff walking to class or volunteering as a model for my friends and other senior designers.”
The 42nd annual AMDT Fashion Show will take place at 7 p.m. April 4 at Beasley Coliseum. A wine and beer garden will open at 5 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. in the CUB or online through CAHNRS’ Apparel, Merchandising, Design & Textiles program.
For more information about the event, follow @wsuamdtfashionshow on Instagram.
