Student designers displayed their creativity at Art2Wear’s 16th annual show in Talley Student Union on Friday. This student-produced runway show is created by College of Design students, and juniors and seniors in the College of Design create the fashion lines for the show.

Olivia Koval, a junior studying industrial design and the student director for Art2Wear, said the show was inspired before its 2002 inception by a design student creating a “mini-fashion show” to display her work at a critique for her design class.

“She put into motion creating this student-led fashion show, and everybody who worked on all the collections were students and the people who produced the show were students,” Koval said.

Since then, Art2Wear has been completely organized and run by students. Koval feels that this allows them to create and learn about the fashion industry in a way they could not otherwise.

“Keeping it student-led preserves the interests of the students,” Koval said. “I’m a student, and I know what’s important to me in a fashion show that’s displaying my work.”

However, it does come with challenges, she adds, since everyone at Art2Wear is a student first.

“This can’t be your first job because you have to be a student to stay in school, so that makes it difficult when you need to contact businesses, but you’re in school for a large part of your day,” Koval said.

Alyssa Padmos, a senior studying animal science with a minor in art and design, was one of the designers for the show. She focused her collection around the animals and plants she could find in her backyard.

“I did all head pieces, and each head piece has some kind of real plant something on it,” Padmos said. “So, dehydrated cherry tomatoes, fresh moss, I have some palm tree bark, pine cones, I have some alpaca wool, just all kinds of different things.”

Working on the show was an enjoyable and interesting experience, according to Padmos, especially since she is primarily studying animal science.

“My collection is very near and dear to my heart and it has a lot to do with where I come from,” Padmos said. “I grew up in a very rural area, so that kind of led me to be into animals.”

Lizzy Lawrence, a senior studying art and design, is another designer in the show. She said that she wanted to participate in Art2Wear since her first year.

“I think it’s one of the biggest things you can do in design school,” Lawrence said. “It’s really cool to design and be a part of a bigger event than just doing something by yourself.”

Lawrence’s collection, which she began creating in the summer, was made out of crocheted material.

“I like how crochet is kind of additive,” Lawrence said. “As you’re going along, you can make decisions, and take it out if you don’t like it … whereas, if you were sewing something, you have to plan everything out beforehand and put it all together.”

According to Koval and many of the show’s designers, the process to create a collection for the show is difficult. Designers were judged by jury in December, then spent the spring semester in studio working on their pieces, most of which comes out of their own budget.

“I think that money probably restricts some people from participating because it’s so expensive, but a lot of people are discouraged from doing it because it’s so much work,” Koval said. “It’s really a year-long production to make a collection like this.”

However, she says, some students are willing to put in the time and effort to express themselves.

“Being able to share all of our creative talents with the community, and we have people who return year after year who are alumni or live in other states, but have attended Art2Wear, and they love it so much, so they keep coming back,” Koval said

Katelynn McCorquodale, a junior studying art and design, took part in the show as a model. She modeled for Grace Hallman, a senior studying art and design. It was her third time walking the runway at Art2Wear, and she says despite modeling in the show being scary, it is also energizing

“I like being able to support my peers,” McCorquodale said. “I’ve seen how hard Grace has worked on her collection, so being able to help he and make her visions come to life is awesome to be a part of, and also I hope to do Art2Wear.”

Koval believes that Art2Wear is all about allowing the students to express themselves through their art.

“Art2Wear’s purpose is to give students the platform to be able to create a whole collection,” Koval said. “They really get the chance to do everything from picking out the lineup and the hair and makeup styles for their models, which is not something you would get to do if you were creating a collection for a class. They get a much fuller, real-life fashion runway experience.”