RSO models prowl the catwalk

Eco-friendly can be fashion- forward.

Designers recycled old styles into new looks at the IU Retail Studies Organization’s annual fashion show, “Retro Revival,” on Thursday in the Indiana Memorial Union.

Junior Mauralynn Ford, one of the RSO fashion show directors, said planning for the show started in January. After model auditions, lengthy practices and an afternoon of stage set-up, student fashionistas transformed Alumni Hall into a high fashion venue.

“I’m finally seeing months of hard work come together,” she said. “People start talking, and it’s awesome to watch the excitement build.’”

Behind the Scenes

By 4 p.m. Thursday, the air in the Union Solarium was thick with hair spray.
Freshman Elise De Jean sat erect as her hair stylist, Brooke McDaniel, teased her straight brown locks into an updo of voluminous curls.

“Fashion hair is crazy, abnormal, big and noticeable,” McDaniel said as she traded a brush for a curling iron. “Lots of spray and bobby pins keep it ready for the runway.”

De Jean, who’d been under McDaniel’s hair care for more than an hour, said she was nervous to take her first runway stride. Though she said she felt outwardly ready—from her painted rouge lips to her rhinestone-encrusted eyelids—butterflies wreaked havoc in her stomach.

“I better not trip,” she said.

“Oh, you’re cool and collected,” her roommate, freshman Sasha Carandang, said.

The pair dissolved into giggles. Carandang, a self-described fashion show veteran, said she had persuaded De Jean to give the catwalk a prowl.

“Your adrenaline just pumps out there,” she said. “I love the first second on the runway when the lights blind you—sometimes you don’t realize what you’re doing until after you’re done.”

Similar scenes of styling surrounded Carandang, De Jean and McDaniels: make-up artists dipping brushes into shimmery, rainbow palettes, hair stylists instructing models to straighten their spines, friends and mothers snapping photos of the rushed, chaotic process.

And after more than three hours of primping, painting and polishing, 23 students became 23 models.

On the Catwalk

Fashion lovers rushed to be seated around a horseshoe-shaped runway as the lights dimmed.

Ford and her co-director, senior Meg Zaring, welcomed guests and thanked sponsors.
“All of the models look fierce,” Ford said, smiling broadly.

As the DJ spun an array of technified MGMT, Jason DeRulo and Lady Gaga, cheers of “Hot!” and “Work it!” echoed throughout the crowded room. Models, donning looks from InSeam Denim Supply, ChaCha and designs by 25 contributing fashion students, strutted across the catwalk and paused to strike a pose at each corner.

De Jean said “dressers” backstage helped models perform fashion pit stops: change clothes and go, in less than two minutes.

Models showcased an eclectic set of looks: bold colors and patterns of the ’60s, multicolored paisley of the ’70s, bright neons of the ’80s and chic looks in vogue now.

The fashions also transitioned from casual to dressy, jeans and sandals to long satin gowns, night to day, light shades and relaxed floral to sleek black and angular hems.
After models displayed decades of trends, student designers appeared together on the runway to take a bow.

“Everyone did a fantastic job,” said junior Alyssa Ulrey, RSO director of philanthropy. “There was a huge turnout, and the show was awesome to watch.”

And De Jean, who sported a high-waisted navy blue miniskirt, didn’t trip after all.