Saddleback College’s annual spring fashion show ‘BEYOND’ rewards student designers

Ramses Osorio awarded Best in Show a $500 scholarship, featured with winning pink tulle gown, on April 26 at McKinney Theatre (Holly Broxterman/Lariat)

Hundreds attended the annual student-produced fashion show at Saddleback College, which returned to the McKinney Theatre on April 26. Organized by the Special Events and Coordination class (FASH 147), the event showcases the amalgamation of designs and garments made by students in the class throughout the semester. Aside from offering a platform to produce and create garments, the class offers applicable experience in promotion, advertising, merchandising, sales and coordination through show preparation and production during the semester.

“I think what’s interesting about the fashion show specifically here is that all the garments that we made had to have something to do with what we’ve done here at school,” said Emily Green, first place winner of the Corsets category of the show.

The theme of this year’s show, “BEYOND,” focuses on environmental sustainability and raising awareness of fast fashion trends that impact the environment. New styles move quickly from the runway to manufacturing, promoting poor working environments in developing countries, questionable workmanship and the decay of synthetic fabrics, among other common detriments of mass production, according to The Independent in an article published earlier this year.

“Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture,” Patsy Perry said for The Independent.

The fast fashion industry remains one of the heaviest polluting industries in the world, placing second only to big oil in terms of global impact. With the event falling shortly after Saddleback College’s Earth Week, student participants and the two student directors overseeing the show this semester, Karina Black and Sarah Yorba, hope awareness of the alternative “slow fashion” movement will promote support of local designers and resources, as well as buying secondhand or ethically sourced garments.

“That’s such a prevalent thing in the world right now, sustainability and futuristic movements, and I think it’s going to be a really fun show.” said Elizah Siegel, second place winner of the Ready-to-wear category.

Beyond awareness, the event also highlighted student designs from recent months in four categories: Corset, Ready-to-wear, Evening Wear and Unconventional. The three best designs in each category received an award which included a prize ranging from a Rowenta iron for those placing third, to a Singer sewing machine for second place winners and a Prismacolor art marker set for first place recipients.

“Unconventional is garments that aren’t made out of fabric,” said Karina Black, the back of house student director of the event. “They are made out of plastic bags, various household items, it’s pretty amazing what they can do.”

An awards ceremony followed a choreographed runway show of student designs and models and a brief showcase of sponsored fashions from boutiques that donated time or resources to the event, including Stevie Sister in Newport Beach, Free Bird in San Clemente and Friar Tux in Laguna Niguel. All student designers and models returned to the stage to be acknowledged before awards commenced, which were judged and decided prior to the event by department faculty and fashion industry professionals.

The Corsets category encompasses tight-fitting reinforced garments with a broad presence in history and fashion since the sixteenth century. This category featured student designs which sought to replicate historical corsets into modern designs while reflecting their personal style. Amy Messinger placed third with a three-piece upholstered corset with white jumpsuit and brown ruffle skirt, Elizabeth Ramirez received second place for a black corset with white lace skirt and Emily Green won first place with a four-piece purple and black floral coordinated skirt and corset with a black victorian top.

The Ready-to-Wear category represents sell-able factory-made clothing, or garments able to make available in a variety of standardized sizes by design, but tailored enough to be flattering to a person’s frame. Ramses Osorio took third place with a beige mixed textile tunic with embroidered and dyed embellishments, Elizah Siegel placed second with a polka-dotted blue denim skirt and white top and Emily Reynaga won first place with a two-piece ‘70s printed crop top and denim printed skirt.

The Evening Wear category includes unique one-of-a-kind garments with special attention paid to details and craftsmanship, with most students producing gowns for the category. Emily Green placed third with a white and black floral gown, winning her second award of the evening, Emily Reynaga also took her second award of the evening when she accepted second place with a red sweetheart strappy gown and Zheela Saberi won her first award of the night winning first place with a sheer mauve floral gown.

Unconventional category garments are draped and constructed from abstract materials which exclude textiles and fabrics, and encourage students to think outside the box. Lei Holt came in third place with a two-piece pink duct tape top and bubble wrap skirt, Wendy Siegel placed second with a black and white checked dress featuring floral egg carton embellishments and Lindsay Orndorff won first place for a two-piece cellophane top and skirt.

The same awards committee convened briefly to evaluate all entries to award Best in Show and a $500 scholarship to one student. Professional fashion industry judges included Amanda Rose, the owner of Free Bird boutique, Saddleback alumni Martha Nestor, a technical designer and junior pattern maker at Avalon Apparel and Debbie Dufour, technical design manager for The La Jolla Group.

Ramses Osorio won the top award of the evening for his pink tulle evening wear gown, but also placed third in the Ready-to-wear category, wherein he personally modeled his own design on the runway. Osorio and fellow designer Jay Cortes were the only two students listed to feature both design and modeling work at the event.

Each fashion show brings a new theme every year, such as “Movement” in 2017 and “Dystopia” in 2016. Anticipated to return in the spring of 2019, the next show will also feature a theme of the students’ choosing.

Go to OCNewsTeam.com to see “BEYOND” the stage.

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