‘Halogen’ Synergy fashion show features student designs

A masked bride walked down the square runway in the Trabant University Center multipurpose rooms, loosing her mask to unfold a train for the dress. Senior Dara Jones had been waiting for the moment since September.

Jones, an apparel design major, created this collection as the final project for her major. She says she was relieved to see her clothes on the runway Saturday night because they turned out exactly how she wanted them to.

“They all have such distinct personality,” Jones says. “I have such a strong kinship with the wedding dress because I worked on it the longest.”

The annual Synergy Fashion Show, run by the Synergy Fashion Group in partnership with visual communications students, featured 27 student designers and was divided into three parts—open submission, blank canvas and senior collections. Guest judges for the event included Korto Momolu, a season five finalist of “Project Runway,” W.L Gore & Associates CEO Terri Kelly and Irene Mak, a technical design director for Anthropologie.

Senior Kelsey Pushkarewicz, president of Synergy, says this year’s theme, “Halogen,” was chosen to complement the designers’ collections, which focused on weather and natural phenomena. Designs included a pair of airy blue silk pants with a matching bandeau top and a backless navy dress draped with beads.

She says the most exciting part of the show was seeing all of the designers’ clothing together, since many of the designers opted to construct their pieces in different locations. She says the worst part of being in charge of the show was meeting deadlines.

“It is just a show to everyone else, but it’s like a huge thing to us,” Pushkarewicz says. “We dream up all these crazy things, and I guess just making everything a reality is frustrating.”

Momolu says she loved seeing the designers’ points of view in their clothing.

“You can see the difference between someone that was just kind of starting out and not really sure where they are going, and then you have some that are very sure, so it was good to see the variety,” Momolu says.

She says although some of the outfits seemed more aspirational than wearable, every designer goes through a learning process.

“I think it’s just a process of a designer—you go through that,” Momolu says. “Every designer has gone through ‘costume-y’ and then you just have to find your way.”

Senior Madeleine Wright, who attended to support a friend, says she enjoyed the designers’ use of Gore-Tex fabric to create protective clothing for the blank canvas portion of the show.

“Fashion is how we express ourselves, so I think fashion shows inherently draw people to new ideas for self-expression,” Wright says.

Mak says watching the show reminded her of her own design school experiences, and she believes the university’s student designers have what it takes to make it in the fashion industry.

“I totally believe that whatever passionate pursuit you are in, it comes out in the design,” Mak says. “It’s the beginning for all the designers to get out there and make a difference in the world one way or another through beauty.”