It’s time for your arts editors to give their honest opinions of what went down on the runway of Cornell Fashion Collective on Saturday.
First up is assistant arts editor Daniel Moran’s takes:
One minor but important thing that stood out to me was that the designers in this event weren’t afraid to have fun with this show. You could tell it was student run, but not in the sense that it seemed unprofessional, but because everything was so fresh and unique in a way that only a bunch of student designers could make it. It was incredibly unpredictable, but that’s what made it fun. One minute there’s a collection based on outer space, the next there’s a children’s line walked by actual kids, and in another moment there’s a dance performance.
I was a big fan of Margaux Neborak’s ’19 My Key (To The Heart) EDM inspired show. I went into it ready to hate: I don’t like EDM. However, the show was fantastic, and further listens proved me wrong about EDM. Neborak described her collection to The Sun as “going from the ethereal to the EDM inspired and back to the ethereal.” I think she more than accomplished this, and all of her pieces looked like they could range from the red carpet to the club to a wedding chapel, flawlessly.
My personal favorite was Regina Mun’s Full Circle. This might be a stretch, but I honestly felt like it is the first collection I’ve seen that makes western clothing both interesting and wearable, even more so than Raf Simon’s first Calvin Klein collection. The fact that all fabric was recycled was cool, too. Thanks for worrying about the planet, Regina.
Now for Jeremy Markus, the lovable, slightly fashion illiterate, other assistant arts editor:
To be frank, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I am not a fashion-minded person; sauce me a comfy pair of sweatpants and a fluffy flannel and I’m content. I don’t mean to offend any of the designers who spent a lot of time and effort on their collections. It’s not personal. I just hate fashion shows.
Regina Mun’s upcycled outfits were unique, and the cowboy hats were a nice, if not slightly odd, touch. I’m not a country boy myself so I was a little uncomfortable with the headwear, but that might have been because the elderly woman next to me and I touched feet. Was it an accident? I’d prefer to think so. Yee-haw.
Designers Caley Drooff, Shoshana Swell and Amrit Kwatra said that they hoped To The Moon would “transport [the audience] to another galaxy.” When the models walked out decked in paper-white suits I was thoroughly confused. Transported to a galaxy far, far away I was not; I felt like I was in The Bee Movie.
Finally, your arts editor, Peter Buonanno:
It is no secret that the level of talent displayed at CFC is impressive. This is evident through collections such as Regina Mun’s Full Circle, which I was blown away by. Seriously . . . I almost asked Regina about buying some of those pieces back-stage.
But despite all of the praise that CFC deserves, I think it is really important to recognize one serious shortcoming that the show had this year. Most of the models in this show were both white and incredibly skinny. It just doesn’t seem that many collections made an effort to be inclusive with their model choices. The one exception to this, which I think makes her collection all the more impressive, was Regina Mun.
Now I can’t entirely blame the members and executive board for this, but it seems that the club could better advertise model calls on campus. I’m looking forward to seeing how CFC addresses this problem next year,
This post has been updated.
Daniel Moran is a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology. He can be reached at [email protected]. Jeremy Markus is a freshman in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He can be reached at [email protected]. Peter Buonanno is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at [email protected].