Students prepare designs for fashion show, model auditions
Tim Gunn, the host of “Project Runway,” will be hold a meeting after the annual student-run Threads Fashion Show on April 22.
While most Central Michigan University student designers have been working on their designs since the beginning of the spring semester, planning for the event started in May 2016. The show’s opening night sold out last year.
Last year, 31 designers and 107 models participated in the 2016 Threads Fashion Show. The same number of participation are expected this year. There is expected to be an audience of around 2,000 people, said Ian Mull, faculty adviser for fashion show. This is a dramatic increase from last year’s audience of 1,100 people.
“There is a lot of benefit for the students,” Mull said. “The students that put on the production get to see all their hard work come to fruition. It provides them an opportunity to actually put on an event and gain really great experience and validation of all their hard work.”
A design class of about 40 students will submit designs for the show as part of the course. However, all CMU students can submit a design on early submission day on Feb. 23 or on late submission day on April 7.
“(Selling out last year) was amazing,” Mull said. “Last year’s producers worked really hard and they gave the audience a phenomenal experience. They were able to showcase our design students in their best light.”
Student pieces will be judged by a panel of professional designers on April 8. This event, called “Judgement Day,” will decide which designs will be included in the show.
Once selected, designers will facilitate auditions for models to walk in the show. Similar to how any student can submit designs, all students can audition to be a model. The decision of which models are selected depends on the vision the designer has for their piece.
“The designers ultimately get to pick their models,” Mull said. “We will make suggestions to the designers if we think the models need help navigating the runway. But fashion has always been accepting of everyone. It has always been a safe harbor. So, anyone can be a designer and anyone can be a model.”
