Kent Student Center Programming, part of the Center for Student Involvement, hosted the 13th annual Rock the Runway on March 4.
The runway featured 21 collections by 24 designers, many from 麻豆传媒鈥檚 School of Fashion Design and Merchandising. The Kent Student Center Ballroom was decked out in 1920s鈥� style with an elevated runway to showcase the designs. The 麻豆传媒 Jazz Society Quartet, made up of Kent State students, performed themed music during the show, which was hosted by sophomore communication studies major Michael Gallagher II.
The first-place collection was chosen by a panel of three judges, and the designers won half of their fall tuition. The 鈥渁udience-choice鈥� winner received $500 to Mood Fabrics, a fabric store known for its product placement on the Lifetime network鈥檚 Project Runway.
The theme this year was the Roaring 鈥�20s drawing many designers to the idea of flappers and Hollywood influence, but the winning duo, sophomores Kassidy Brillhart and Ann Marie Elaban, went a different route.
鈥淲e put together a mood board for inspiration and tried to think about what was going to make us stand out from other designers,鈥� Elaban says. 鈥淲e did pull from typical 鈥�20s images, but we wanted to make our collection different.鈥�
The pair looked to a popular dance from that time to inspire their collection, 鈥淟iving Lindy.鈥�
鈥淭exas Tommy was a popular dance in the south during the 1910s,鈥� Elaban says. 鈥淚t turned into the Lindy Hop in the 1920s and was more popular toward the end of the 鈥�20s. We wanted the name and collection to reflect the lifestyle of women of that time.鈥�
Their three designs combined elements of masculine and feminine styles. 鈥淲e really wanted to do something extravagant,鈥� Brillhart says. 鈥淭he 1920s is interesting because the style was more elegant, and the idea of doing something based on menswear really interested both of us. We went with a masculine silhouette with more of a feminine color palette.鈥�
Brillhart and Elaban met in fashion design classes, and when they heard about the show, they decided to work together.
鈥淭he 鈥�20s was a time that both I and Kassidy liked and could find inspiration in, so we decided to go for it and put our application together and submitted it,鈥� Elaban says.
All designers submit an application with three tentative sketches of their designs and a statement that described their vision and inspiration for the designs.
鈥淚t was a long process,鈥� Brillhart says. 鈥淲e made three different versions of one top before we decided on the final one. We went back and forth on ideas to make sure everything was cohesive and that the style lines were similar, but different enough. We didn鈥檛 have much experience working with the fabrics we used. Sewing sequins to velvet and hand stitching the lace was a lot of work.鈥�
This was the first runway show either of them had participated in, and Elaban says it gave them an opportunity to show their creativity outside of the classroom.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really think we would win,鈥� Elaban says. 鈥淏ut I always had faith in us. We work really well together and are good at editing each other鈥檚 styles to make a cohesive collection. I鈥檓 really proud of us for finishing and making everything as beautiful as I thought it would be. I still can鈥檛 believe we won.鈥�
