Los Angeles Fashion Week isn’t the only time to see the latest trends in California; Cal State Long Beach’s Campus Couture Fashion Show has its share of glamour, too, and will be putting on its 20th annual fashion show today in the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
Though once confined to a small space in the University Student Union, Campus Couture has become one of the largest student-run fashion shows in California. The show celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
“It has just become bigger and bigger each year that now it’s made its way to the Carpenter Center with 1,072 people,” said Head Coordinator Samantha Cornett. “It’s a sold-out show every year, so each year it just gets better and better.”
At a cost of approximately $30,000, it is the largest and most expensive student-run event in the California State University system, according to Senior Designer Caitlin Dorrance.
Funding for Campus Couture is largely raised by fashion students, while CSULB usually provides a grant of up to $5,000.
“We start with nothing and we fundraise fall and spring semesters,” Cornett said. “Designers are required to pay $25 fees, and for each design class that they take.”
Besides money from students and donations, Campus Couture generates money from garage sales, TV tapings and raffling products like Ray-Ban sunglasses and Rainbow flip-flops.
This year’s show features garments from senior and junior designers. About 250 pieces will be featured on about 100 models.
According to Cornett, junior designers have two garments in the show and senior designers can have up to 12 garments. Senior designers also come out on stage when their collection is featured.
The seniors have also worked on projects for the show, where they make a knit collection, and designer projects, where they choose a famous designer and emulate its style by incorporating it with their own. There is also a section of the show called “Free Style,” where the designers get to design anything they want with no criteria. Coral McPhe, a senior design student, is doing a children’s garment.
McPhe said it takes about 30 hours to make one garment. The student does everything from the concept to the pattern, design and adjustments.
The school does not fund the design students. They pay for their own sewing machines, which can cost between $500 to $1,000. They also pay for their own fabric for their garments. McPhe said she spent $300 on one garment alone.
“It’s rough, expensive, no space, lots of tears, you don’t sleep,” Dorrance said. “You have to love it to get through it.”
Design students also hope to network through the show; organizers say that many fashion industry professionals attend the show each year. In 2007, the creative director for Marc Jacobs and the director of the Costume Guild of Los Angeles attended Campus Couture.
“I feel great about the show. I’m working with a very focused group of young women,” said senior Jennifer Prudhome, who has participated in the show as designer since her sophomore year. “We’ve all been able to put some new ideas into the pot, especially since this is our 20th annual fashion show. We knew that it had to stand out and above the last 19.”