A wooden structure completely covered in laundry baskets and filled to the brim with fashion, beauty and food sat in front of the library Friday. The first annual ISU Fashion Show Pop-Up Shop was created in collaboration with Ames’ businesses to create an aesthetic experience like none other.

“Part of the idea of a pop-up shop is that it literally pops up overnight,” said Ashley Peters, senior in apparel, merchandising and design, and one of the three directors of the shop.

The location and appearance of the pop-up shop had been kept a secret until the reveal on Friday. Directors chose to set up underneath the overhang in front of Parks Library. The directors said this location gave great exposure to the shop due to the high foot traffic between The Hub and Parks Library.

The structure covered in laundry baskets was an idea inspired by the design of a thimble and the concept of fashion. The directors had decided to build the structure from scratch, rather than creating the experience inside of a tent.

“To see something completely different that isn’t a tent draws people’s attention in,” said Courtney Brockman, senior in apparel, merchandising and design, and one of the three shop directors.

Jungwoo Ji, a principal of eu.k architect and architecture lecturer spent five months designing ideas with one architecture student as a Pro Bono project. It took four architecture students about four months to fabricate and construct the shop from the ground up. Pop up shop committee members assisted in set up on April 9. 

“It was a great experience for us because as architecture students, we always just design through computers and paper and we always believe that it’s going to be perfect but when we actually build it there’s so many different problems that we have to fix and solve,” said Han Kwon, senior in architecture.

Inside the pop-up shop, coffee from Burgie’s Coffee shop and cupcakes from The Cupcake Emporium were offered. Finesse Salon stylists were set up to braid hair, provide makeovers and give manicures. The suspense and excitement of the shop even sparked the interest of the ISU Fashion Show’s guest designer, Ali Rahimi.

“I think it’s fantastic. “I’ve been hearing about it for several days now,” Rahimi said. “I think it’s a great event and I’m honored and excited to be invited.”