UGA Fashion Week continued to celebrate its second birthday this year with the Student Merchandising Association’s (SMA) 19th Annual Fashion Show at the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library.
Thursday night’s show not only drew a big crowd, but it also proved to all of its attendees that spring is definitely in the air with the smell of fierce new fashions and trends.
The event kicked of with the Lotusgrace preshow. Lotusgrace is a New York City-based brand with collections sold by luxury retailers, mainly Saks Fifth Avenue. The Lotusgrace fashion show showcased beautiful and classy cocktail dresses perfect for any occasion. A key trend displayed in the preshow was the use of pastels and floral prints.
SMA is an on-campus organization for students majoring in Fashion Merchandising. The organization allows students to network with retailers and gain experience and skills by participating in productions such as fashion shows and other events that will help the students learn how to navigate careers in the fashion industry.
The theme of the show this year was “Destination: Spring Break”, with a note from the SMA in the program stating, “We are so excited to show what shopping in downtown Athens has to offer for your Spring and Spring Break needs!” With the help of the UGAgency models, the SMA presented us with styles from downtown Athens boutiques such as Agora, Cheeky Peach, Flint Fashions, Minx Vintage, and many more.
This year, spring (and Spring Break) in Athens shall be about trendy and fun clothing that is also, more importantly, affordable.
The variety of the clothing being modeled couldn’t have been better. The show presented us with everything from simple swimwear to nightwear.
My favorite parts of the show were the mens’ looks. I loved how the men in the show were given a classier, more sophisticated look, different from that of the guys in Athens that most of us are used to seeing.
The women featured in the show were given dressy but more comfortable looks like high-waisted shorts paired with wedge-heels and sandals and the occasional combat boot for more of an edge. Of course, every fashionista in the show was given the proper accessories to complete her look; sun hats were a common accessory giving many of the outfits a beach-y feel.