Held at the Inn at Penn’s Ballroom, Masquerade felt like a real fashion week show, complete with a photoshoot wall and clothing from elite designers like Helmut Lang.
The process began months ago in December, when student designers submitted their sketches to be approved for the show. The real work began when the chosen designers worked tirelessly creating their garments, buying fabric, meeting with the seamstress, and, in some cases, sewing their entire collections themselves! Closer to the show date, the fashion show committee began meeting to make decisions on every aspect of the show, including the theme, name, hair and makeup, and decorations.
They put together marketing strategies and assembled teams of people responsible for helping backstage and for going downtown to pull professional apparel from various amazing boutiques (check the end of this article for a list of all the boutiques you must check out!). It was soon fashion week, and all of their hard work came together for one incredible show.
The night before any fashion show is hectic. All of the designers, stylists, models, and directors meet for fittings and for a final run-through. Student designers and stylists run around, frantic to find a model that will perfectly fit the clothes they have made or pulled for the show, while directors type madly into spreadsheets of what each model will be wearing. Despite all of the stress, it was definitely worth it, because Friday night was stunning.
“I went in planning to purse my lips as a faux Miranda Priestly. I was surprised and impressed by the lack of…catastrophes. Kudos to all!” said freshman Ben Lerner.
Whether you get the Devil Wears Prada reference or not, Ben’s impression of the show is a perfect way of description. Those who walked into the room expecting a sub-par student’s fashion show were surely blown away. All of the student-made apparel was gorgeous and well made, and the pieces pulled from boutiques were beautiful, perfect selections for the show’s theme.
Attendees who were lucky enough to snag VIP tickets (which sold out within the first day or two!) received cool Penn Fashion Week tote bags stuffed with a variety of fun goodies like Ann Taylor coupons, chocolate, issues of The WALK magazine (Dzine2Show’s daughter organization and publication), and silly masquerade masks. VIPs also had the chance to sit front row and see all of the hard work, gorgeous clothing, and beautiful models up close. If you didn’t get to attend this year’s show, don’t worry. D2S puts on a show every semester – make sure you get in on the action next fall!
Stores featured in the show that you NEED to visit: Vagabond, Smak Parlour (both right around the corner from each other), Jack Wills (they do tons of cool events on campus!), Knit Wit, and Piper (so close!).
Nicole Malick
Kelly Wyche
Jo Ehrenreich
Rashana Trim
Adam Warner
Mandi Liu
Susan Yang
Joseph Yi
Erica Ma
Mckenzie Harper
Ann Dang
Alexis Richards
Lynn Nguyen
Huong Bui-Vu
Bernice Kong
Alexis Richards is a member of Dzine2Show, a student designer, stylist, and on the planning committee for the fashion show.