Various fashion programs on campus presented the Kaleidoscope Fashion Show in the Union Ballroom. Eighteen fashion designers including college students, local artists and small businesses displayed their work, with 46 outfits walking the runway in total.
Erin Irick directed the show. Irick is a UW professor for the family and consumer sciences department, and has been putting on the fashion show for nine years now.
“The students have been planning this since January. I feel so proud of my students, seeing them overcome difficulties and finding solutions for certain issues makes me feel like a proud mom,” said Irick.
The categories for the designs were Evening Wear/ Avant Garde, Business Chic, Sustainable, Styled Fits, Retail and Featured Designer, for a designer who has donated clothing to the show.
The designers were judged based on a ten-point scale for how well they executed each category. The main points came from the construction, styling, and overall design. The judges were Linda Leibold, Kate Backman, and Sal Coca.
Coca was also the designated featured designer. His small business, Hypo, has shops in Laramie and Denver, and donated two jackets, a hoodie, four pairs of shoes and a few t-shirts for the models to wear.
“It cost me everything I had financially to get my business off the ground, and the most rewarding part of having a brand is seeing people wearing it, especially at this event,” said Coca.
Local businesses Surf Wyoming, Mimi’s Consignment, Sensuous She and Poppy’s sponsored the retail category. Models displayed the company’s clothes on the runway as advertisements.
The Styled Fits category was exclusively for students to compete in. It included thrifted and cultural wear. The winner of Styled Fits was Zaw Than Soe. The outfit that stole the show was “Rakhine Traditional Costume” (Myanmar).
Arianne Burback, a Casper College Freshman, won the Sustainable category. Six of her sustainable designs walked the runway which were titled: ”Skeletons in my Closet,” “Robinson Re-Work,” “Earth Day,” “2 Kool 4 Skool,” “From Rigs to Runway,” and “Garage Projects.” She explained that each outfit took about a week to complete, finishing each individual piece in a day.
In addition to winning the Sustainable category, Burback claimed the People’s Choice Awards for the best outfit of the night.
“Winning those categories is exhilarating. It’s one of the things that I like most about fashion shows, is that I can sit back and it’s very rewarding to watch my work [walk] down the runway and see all of it pay off,” said Burback.
The next category was Business Chic, which featured nine designers. The winner was Faisal Ahmed, a graduate student as well as the director assistant for the fashion show with the winning design called “Summer Luxe.”
The last category was Evening Wear/Avant Garde. Five students competed in this category and Michelle Sunset took the win with the outfit called “B and W Ball Gown.”
