Student fashion designers, primarily majoring in apparel, merchandising and design (AMD), presented their collections at “The Suite Escape,” the 41st annual Fashion Show Saturday, April 15 at Stephens Auditorium. 

“This is an opportunity to get students involved in a unique experience, from set design to production, marketing, and of course, the outstanding garments that we will see tonight,” said Toyia Younger, senior vice president for student affairs. “We have amazingly talented students here who are able to pinpoint the areas that will take them into their future careers.”

Steve Madden, the guest designer, had 16 designs from the upcoming fall collection modeled after intermission. A copy of Steve Madden’s memoir, “The Cobbler: How I Disrupted an Industry, Fell From Grace, and Came Back Stronger Than Ever,” was given to the first 150 guests who attended.

Ninety-four designs and collections were modeled by students on the runway. Designers were chosen by a panel of judges and student models were selected last December after auditions. Olivia Mertes, a sophomore in kinesiology and health, modeled a range of designs. 

“It’s been really fun,” said Mertes. “I’ve been super in touch with my designer and getting refittings done.”

The guest judges of The Fashion Show included four Iowa State AMD graduates. Katrina Pedrick, Aerie associate designer; Charity Armstead, a fashion merchandising program director at Brenau University; Chelsey Twedt, senior manager for technical design at Old Navy; and Cassandra Dittmer, founder of the sustainable clothing brand CD Studio.

Eleanor Chalstrom, a senior in journalism and mass communications, and Will Donaghy, a junior in public relations, were the emcees of the night.

The Fashion Show was able to exceed their fundraising goal and raised over $36,000.

Scholarships

“WHO IS YOUR CONNECTION?” by Angel Tiengkham, a senior in AMD, won the Lora and Russ Talbot ISU Fashion Show Best In Show Scholarship. This collection was the conclusion of The Fashion Show.

The Fashion Scholarship Fund was awarded to Angel Stewart, a senior in marketing; Abby Ashbacher, a senior in AMD; Katherine Haidvogel, a senior in AMD; and Megan Lenzi, a senior in AMD.

Over 500 submissions from 70 accredited member schools send submissions to this scholarship program. Students from Iowa State competed against students from Harvard, UCLA, the Fashion Institute of Technology and more for a chance to be a part of this prestigious program. Scholarships range from $7,500 to $10,000, and provide internship, networking and mentorship opportunities. 

“These students stood out on account of their hard work, dedication, research, creativity and clarity of their case studies,” The Fashion Show program stated. “Their case studies were inspiring as well as innovative.” 

Lauren Hansen, a junior, was awarded first place and $1,000 for “The Insatiable Lust to Live.” Chanel Spear, a senior, was awarded second place and $600 for “Girl by Spear.” Garret Hanson, a senior, was awarded third place and $400 for “The Road to my Horizon.”

The Lora and Russ Talbot ISU Fashion Show Merchandising Scholarship was awarded to Abigail Klauer, a junior in AMD. Klauer’s presented collection was titled “Pink Picket Fence.” 

Klauer received this scholarship from completing a case study that was created and judged by the Steve Madden team. Klauer earned $2,000 by creatively combining BB Dakota apparel with Steve Madden apparel.

The Evelyn and Richard Shibles Fashion Show Senior Collection Scholarship was awarded to three students in AMD who submitted their designs in AMD 495: Senior Design Studio. 

La Vie en Rose

Perceiving life through rose-colored glasses was the idea behind Brooke Mulholland’s senior collection “La Vie En Rose.” She also took inspiration from Aubrey Hepburn’s most famous looks.

“It’s almost like looking at a brighter and more positive side of life,” Mulholland said. “In one of [Aubrey Hepburn’s] movies, she sings ‘La Vie En Rose,’ so I thought it was kind of very fitting for the whole collection.” 

Combining Hepburn’s elegance and style with the vintage and floral aesthetic of the brand LoveShackFancy resulted in Mulholland spending eight months creating five unique pieces; one for herself and four for the runway. 

The senior capstone apparel design course, AMD 495: Senior Design Studio, created time and space for Mulholland to make her first three designs for the show. Balancing the creation of these pieces with other schoolwork was never Mulholland’s biggest issue; finding the perfect fabric was.

“I had very distinct visions in my head of what I wanted the fabric to look like,” Mulholland said. “There weren’t a ton of options so I got a lot of my fabric from online websites.”

Etsy was Mulholland’s go-to for finding fabric online. In person, she prefers SR Harris Fabric Outlet; a warehouse in Minnesota that is filled floor to ceiling with fabric and trims. 

Before starting the AMD program at Iowa State, Mulholland had no prior sewing experience other than a simple pillowcase. She quickly advanced by taking classes to learn introductory sewing, pattern making and draping.

“I really grew as a designer and got to grow with my sewing skills because you really get to see how fabric lays out and how you can manipulate it to lay the way you want,” Mulholland said. 

In order to pick her models, Mulholland watched a PowerPoint showing all the models and their measurements. She then chose which models would best fit her garments.

“When they tried it on I think most of the models that I wanted got it to fit almost perfectly, I just had to make a couple adjustments, that was really nice,” Mulholland said. 

Mulholland said designers are given a few weeks to complete adjustments and have an updated fitting with the models. 

In the future, Mulholland would love to take this collection further and create more pieces. 

Mulholland’s collection, along with the rest of The Fashion Show, can still be viewed online.