By Charlize Althea Garcia, May 9, 2023
Since 2009, the Fashion Society at Cal Poly Pomona has served as a community for students interested in style and the fashion industry. The club concluded the semester April 29 with its annual fashion show featuring student-designed collections.
The theme, “Visions,” played on the beauty of diverse perception that everyone has a different perspective and contributes to individuality in a community. Art and music were subgenres of the theme many designers drew inspiration from in hopes of showcasing their visions.
Fashion Society President and fashion show Director Charlotte Mae Saracho had her own vision in the making of the production. Saracho wanted to enforce a creative freedom within each designer with an ambiguity in the theme and an absence in artistic choices as a director.
Starting off the show was apparel merchandising and management student Kadin Dadd’s collection. Dadd’s collection drew from Greek mythology’s gods and goddesses with each piece in the color white with gold touches. The first piece was a direct interpretation of mythology as it was a literal design of a Greek tunic. Each following piece strayed farther away from the overarching theme. The third piece was the length of a mini dress and was comprised of triangle shaped cloth and ending the collection was a crinoline dress paired with a bustier.
The next collection was a complete reversal in aesthetic; light turns dark. Isabella Andrade’s collection displayed three pieces that shared a darkness in each design. The three pieces were done in all black with gray elements, styled in a relaxed everyday look. Andrade’s designs followed an emo punk take that encompassed a prevalent aesthetic in this current generation.
Apparel merchandising and management student Isaiah Wallis’ collection ended the first half of the show with the largest set of the evening. Wallis had an easement in his designs, displaying light colors complimented with touches of black in a few of his pieces. His designs played with contrasting patterns from bold solid colors juxtaposed with flowered designs in a few of his pieces.
Wallis’ designs, one of which was fully produced using zero waste, used discarded fabric scraps from other students. Wallis described finding a push in creative thinking when dealing with limitations.
“I try to work more with what is considered waste instead because that’s the way fashion needs to go,” said Wallis. “We can’t already keep up with the consumption.”
Sustainability is at the core of Wallis’ designs, and he uses it as an obligation to continue his work. Apparel merchandise and management student Brandy Hercules uses the same kind of passion.
Hercules’ designs were inspired by “concert black,” the clothing attire musicians must wear when performing in orchestral or band settings with women wearing all black and men having the option to wear a white dress shirt.
This difference in choices stuck with Hercules as she designed a few of her women’s designs in all-white or joined with white elements. In all of her pieces, a tulle fabric with a music sheet design was incorporated. Hercules’ reworking of staid concert black was confronted with novel stylistic choices that conveyed an unconventionality.
“The story I told was that I’m not afraid to do something different,” said Hercules.
The show ended with Hugo Solórzano’s collection that embodied 21st century streetwear to the tee. Solórzano integrated performative elements in his showcase, playing his own DJ mix set and having his models act in between walks down the runway. His designs expressed a laid-back look, incorporating oversized tops and bottoms and light colors.
Doors opened to local and CPP-based vendors for attendees to buy from and a performance from musical guest Raccoon Cartoons, an all CPP student indie band.
The Fashion Society produced an eclectic array of collections that represented the disparate worlds of thought of this generation. These designers conveyed eccentricities and unconventionalities, exciting many in CPP’s fashion world.
Feature image courtesy of Darren Loo