In the largest student–run fashion show on the West Coast, Cal State Long Beach students will pay tribute to fashion icon David Bowie this Friday.
The Fashion Merchandising and Design Department will present their 28th Annual Campus Couture Fashion Show, demonstrating students’ different and uniquely flared fashion collections.
Campus Couture was established in 1988 with a mission is to showcase the commitment and creativity of student designers throughout the program.
“We use the show to showcase the senior and junior designers so we can push them into the fashion industry, and we try to make that transition from students to professionals so we can be prepared and experienced for the taste of the fashion industry before we graduate,” said Jasmin Garcia, senior and head coordinator of the event. “We would like to also have exposure for our junior and sophomore designers as well in our event.”
According to Garcia, the show consists of 20 senior designers, 13 junior designers and five sophomores and includes some students who are transferring from community college for the fall 2016 school year.
Olivia Tram Le, senior and production coordinator of Campus Couture, said the show will contain various unique looks from the student collections.
“This year the show will have 150 looks including the senior, junior and sophomore designers, which is quite long for a fashion show,” Le said. “The cool thing about it is that every designer is free to choose their own aesthetic and what they want their design to look like.”
The fashion show contains a wide range of styles and collections from wedding gowns to men’s apparel.
Donors and sponsors contribute to the show’s funding by making purchases such as jewelry, shoes and accessories that the designers will be able to showcase within their collections.
The collections can have anywhere from five to 10 looks depending if the garment gets a passing grade. This year senior student designer and coordinating team member Nicole Azevedo will be showcasing 10 different looks.
Le mentioned that this year, the fashion show will have different and a wide range of guests.
“We are hoping to have more exposure for our fashion show this year through the industry of professionals and bloggers which is something that we are doing differently this year,” Le said. “The show will welcome about 30 bloggers which we are excited and look forward to it.”
The program invites fashion students from community colleges within the community to take part in the event.
Le stated that the fashion show will have roughly 100 models — both men and women of which 90 percent are student models and 10 percent are professionals — who will contribute to the event.
One of the judges who will participate in the fashion show is Ken Alcazar, media and designer relations manager of Style Fashion Week, who is giving an award to the winning designer — a spot in the Paris Style Fashion Week.
Profit from the event will be used to support next year’s fashion show including the purchase of materials for the fashion merchandising and design program.
The 28th Annual Campus Couture Fashion Show will be held at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at CSULB May 6 at 7 p.m. Tickets will be sold for $20 outside of the center.