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Lauren Sims knows fashion. As the president of Synergy, she is responsible for organizing the annual fashion show. Sims isn't just at the helm of the show, she's also a participant with her collection, "Juxtaposition."
Sims says the journey of garment creation is ultimately rewarding but the road there is tedious. Add the countless stresses related to organizing a show of this magnitude and you're looking at one of the busiest students at the university.
"Typically, I start with an idea, inspired from a current trend, some I saw in a magazine, something I just noticed in my day-to-day life," she says. "Then, I draw several sketches of possible design ideas and narrow those down to the one I'd like to construct."
From there, Sims says methods of construction vary, but draping, or assembling the piece directly on a dress form, works best for her.
"It's a much more visual process and you can really see the garment coming to life," she says. "The amount of time it takes to construct a garment from idea to finished product really varies depending on how much time is spent working on it and how complicated a design it is."
Her inspiration for her three pieces follows the overall theme of the show - sustainability.
"Primitive people, living during the Ice Age approximately 500,000 years ago, were the first to use the skins of animals to protect their bodies from the elements," she says. "Today, the leather tanning industry stands out as perhaps the most productive byproduct industry in the world, further proving its long and dependable existence.
"In my collection, I used this durable material, that has sustained itself as a means of clothing people for centuries, in order to stabilize my garments and ensure their wearability."
She says her fellow apparel design majors have spent endless hours in their Alison Hall headquarters and, although they've endured countless all-nighters, their bonds remain strong.
"It's a fun atmosphere that we create in the studio. The girls in our major are a very tight knit group and only grow closer spending so much time together during the semester we're enrolled in collections," she says. "We are always chatting away, listening to music and running ideas past each other on how to do things if we run into a problem."
Sims says her experience at the university has taught her many invaluable lessons.
"The first is that you should never conform to anyone else's style but your own," she says. "Listen to what inspires you and what you feel passionate about when designing a garment."
In fashion, she adds, one should never take the "easy way out."
"Putting the extra effort in to do something properly will always pay off in the end when it comes to the aesthetics of a final garment," she says.
Following graduation, she says she would ultimately like to make her future designing for a reputable fashion company.
"I would like a position where I get to use my creativity," she says. "It's most important to me that I go to work every day loving what I do and feeling that I'm making a contribution, no matter how small it may be."
Wherever Sims goes, it's clear her fashion taste alone will get her far in an industry that continually returns to the classics for inspiration.
"I find that you don't need to use hot pink in order to create something striking."
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