Seventeen N.C. State student designers competed in the African-American Textile Society’s 16th Annual Fashion Exposé Monday evening.
Students ranging from freshmen to seniors showcased their designs in three different categories: exhibit, novice and intermediate. Exhibit designers showcased their work on mannequins, while novice and intermediate competitors took to the runway.
“The AATS Fashion Exposé has served student designers for the past 16 years as a true nonrestrictive outlet for creativity,” Fashion Exposé Coordinator Lisa Redfearn said.
Seniors Joelle Purifoy, Alexis Bethea, Jasmine Rhodes and Elizabeth Croom said the show was a bittersweet “send-off” from their undergraduate college career.
Purifoy was the $100 grand prize winner in the intermediate category, incorporating a mixture of hand beading and authentic African mud cloth — thick material with geometric patterns — into her collection this year. She said she has also won the previous two AATS Fashion Exposé competitions.
“My inspiration comes from Dante’s Inferno,” Croom said. “Each of my garments represents the nine circles of hell.”
Croom said each outfit represents specific features of its given circle, although they all share a certain destructed and worn look that represents the idea that “each model has been searching for something in hell.”
Every outfit in Croom’s collection is burned and ripped in specific places to represent the darkness that Dante found himself in.
Alexis Bethea said her “Continuum” collection in the intermediate category incorporates a hard and soft aspect and involves the mysterious and romantic elements of space.
Bethea is excited to finally showcase her designs after “living in the apparel labs” lately. This is her first collection.
Rhodes entered her collection “Turks and Caicos” in the novice category. She said she wanted to go for a more “girly and flowy” approach to her collection.
“In the middle of winter, all I could think about was summer,” Rhodes said. “This is why I was inspired by the colors of the islands of Turks and Caicos.”
Charnessa Hamlett, a sophomore in fashion and textile management, won the $250 grand prize in the novice category for her collection “Runaway Swan.” Hamlett said Kanye West’s song “Runaway” and the award-winning film “Black Swan” inspired the collection.
Kent Hester, director of student and career services, said he never missed a show since it began 16 years ago. Hester said he wants to encourage all students to be involved regardless of their majors.
“The annual fashion exposé is not only an outlet for designers to express their creativity, but also for other students in respective fields to gain experience,” Redfearn said.
Redfearn also said the fashion exposé gives opportunity to students in many fields including post-production, directing, photography and filmmaking.
Student-run clothing companies such as Cherry Dork, Wyl, Sophisticated Genius and Tahari B. displayed their designs during the event’s intermission. Charlotte musician Nige Hood performed in the midst of the fashion show.
“We honestly treat this show as if it were our job,” Redfearn said. “We work hard throughout the entire school year, and we mold students into young professionals.”
Belk, Maurice’s, the AATS and many others sponsored the fashion exposé to allow the winners to receive scholarships. After the show, attendees went upstairs to enjoy refreshments, view competitors’ collections and view and purchase student vendors’ merchandise.
Molly Renaud, a sophomore in textile engineering, said Maurice’s donated 350 gift bags for attendees to enjoy. Renaud also said that all but 40 tickets were sold out before the show, including all of the online tickets.
“This is the longest running continuous fashion show at N.C. State,” Hester said. “I look forward to it every year.”
