‘All Eyes’ on student designers

Stephanie Yost

Pouty models strutted the catwalk to a mix of hip-hop, electronic and disco beats, while donning everything from black leather corsets to dragon costumes as their images were projected onto two full screens. The audience oohed and aahed throughout the show, proving “All Eyes” were definitely on the designer’s imaginative and original creations.

“Instinct, Intuition and Interpretation (All Eyes),” the 21st annual textiles and clothing fashion show, proved to be a success — Saturday’s performance and awards night at Fisher Theater was sold out.

“It turned out the way we wanted it to,” said Ashley Drahn, senior in apparel, merchandising, design and production. “It’s what I dreamed — that’s how it went.”

Drahn won “Best In Show” for the second year in a row for her collections piece, “My Knight in Shining Armor,” which she dedicated to her late boyfriend, Jeffrey Allen Sample. Sample died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2002. His poem, “Perfection,” was also read as an opening to the show.

“He made me confident — he inspired me to do my best,” Drahn said. “He made me want to perfect everything and I owe that to him.”

The runway show featured casual, evening and experimental wear. A crimson cloak inspired by the folk tale “Little Red Riding Hood” and a dragon costume, “Cheil Covando Drago,” were just two of the pieces from those categories.

Jenn Woodruff’s dragon costume, which came complete with horns, wings and a tail, won first place for the experimental category.

Viewers also had the chance to see a little sadomasochism with “Bondage Punk” and the innocence of children with “Fairy Dust Flower Girls” in the collections category.

The fashion show also featured clothing from *Zushy, 2406 Lincoln Way, and guest designer Angelia DeAntonis. DeAntonis is the owner and designer of Oakland, Calif.-based Ocelot, a company that makes hand-dyed original clothing.

Christina Seward, senior in apparel, merchandising, design and production, showed off her “Beer Caps” and “Bra Dress” designs during the mounted exhibit portion of the show.

Seward says she went to the local bars and collected Coors Light and Miller Light bottlecaps from several bartenders. The bottle caps were attached together with wire and then hung in rows over a one-shoulder tank top and miniskirt made from paper bags.

“I thought it would be cool to do something with [the bottlecaps],” Seward says. “It was really what I expected. I’m glad I put all the effort into it.”

The clothing and accessories were not the only focus of the event. Entertainment was provided by local disc jockeys Christopher Hyde and John Solarz, who spun records and played music on stage during the runway show and also during “Battle of the Arts,” a face-off between themselves and break dancers Kyle Taylor and Nick Curtis.

Iowa State’s hip-hop dance group The Modsquad also came out to show their dancing skills.

The event had something for everyone, whether it was fashion, music, dancing, poetry or socializing. Committees will now begin planning for next year’s fashion show. But all involved agreed: This year’s memorable festivities will be hard to top.