Alexia Lipscomb, junior in paper science and engineering, walks the runway at the 17th- annual African-American Textile Society Fashion Expose Saturday in Talley Student Union. " />
J. Tyler Andrews
Alexia Lipscomb, junior in paper science and engineering, walks the runway at the 17th- annual African-American Textile Society Fashion Expose Saturday in Talley Student Union.
N.C. State has yet again doubled participation in the African American Textile Society’s Fashion Expose Tuesday night in the Talley Student Union Ballroom from 7 to 9 p.m.
Nearly 300 people attended the event.
The show was split into two sections according to the experience of the 26 designers.
Fourteen designers participated in the “Novice” division, which was for designers with fewer than two years of experience, and 12 designers participated in the “Intermediate and Beyond” division.
Emily Law, a senior in fashion and textile management, said she has become familiar with the fashion industry since arriving at N.C. State.
“My first event was Fashion Week last year, but I have been designing for a while,” Law said.
Law’s line, titled “Dystopian Dreams,” embodied a sci-fi theme.
“It sort of has this apocalyptic, dark fantasy idea that I went off of,” Law said. “It sort of embodies huntresses and powerful, strong women in this apocalyptic future so I just went from there and designed all these looks based off of it. It’s kind of like characters in a story.”
Law said the show required a significant amount of preparation.
“I’ve been preparing for a while,” Law said. “There have been many nights until four in the morning spent in the sewing lab.”
Law said the designers have the freedom of choosing their own models, which do not have to be N.C. State students. Once designers choose their models, they also decide on how their hair and makeup will be done for each of the outfits.
Amelia Sechrest, a freshman in fashion and textile management, modeled for Law’s line.
“I met Emily in the library one day,” Sechrest said. “She and her friend, Marie, who’s another designer in this came up to me and they asked me if I wanted to be a model for another show from before and then Emily asked me if I wanted to be a model for her for this one.”
According to Sechrest, this year’s theme, “Back to Black,” featured twice as many designers as the year before.
In the “Novice” category, there was a first, second and third place winner and in the “Intermediate and Beyond” section there was a first and second place winner.
For the “Novice” designers the third place winner was Sharae Hines, a freshman also in fashion and textile management. Hines worked with Catherine Blazer and Grace Rakauskas, freshmen and sophomore in fashion and textile management, respectively, for their line titled “Out of the Woods.” The second place winner was Lauren Stilwell, with her “Reamality” line.
Lisa Hoang, a sophomore in fashion and textile management, was awarded first place in her division for her line “Skyfall.”
Unava Doran won first place in the “Intermediate and Beyond” division for her line “Retro Chic: Yin Yang.”