It’s less than an hour before doors open for Cornell Fashion Collective’s first show of the 2024-2025 academic year. Models backstage are delicately shoving chocolate Ferrero Rochers into their mouths, careful not to smudge their makeup. Designers are on their knees correcting their hems, sewing on ruffles and even drawing on their models’ skin. There is a quiet lull in which you can sense the animation in each and everyone’s actions. Though stressed, the aura is excited, even anticipatory. Designers and models alike scurry around in a sea of black, worn by CFC members, and erratic flashes of color when models venture out from backstage. Models ask each other if they think their poses will display the idea of the clothing, hoping to imitate, morph and become one with the pieces.
At exactly 5:40 p.m., the voice of Julia Roos ’25 reverberates around Willard Straight Hall, alerting designers and models that the walkthrough will commence. A hush falls on the room, the musicians take up their instruments and the walk through begins.
The models step up one by one and flow down the S shaped runway, posing under the designated spotlights. Each model embodies a different experience while walking down their paths. The walkthrough finishes at 6:10 p.m. with a series of small mishaps. Susanna Burr ’27, Runway Director for CFC, commands the attention of the models and clears up the last couple of issues before the show begins; walking through the exact places to pose, where to look and how to emphasize the designer’s inspiration for the clothes. At exactly 6:30 p.m., all models and designers are ushered into the backstage area where they are told to be silent. The first stream of onlookers enter and an eagerness for the night begins to settle around the room. More and more well dressed students and adults spill into the building, the line for the ticket stand goes all the way out the door. People glide into the hall, finding themselves the best possible seat. At 7:25 p.m., an awaiting silence coates the room, introducing a buzzing energy that fills the space.
Maria Fernanda Serra Almieda Leite ’26, steps up to introduce the CFC Fall 2024 runway show with the theme “An Evening at the Circus,” in which designers display how bodies of circus performers occupy a space, and how that affects the performers. The show becomes a performance of clothes that restrict and limit. Each designer took this theme and employed it in a different way. Some pieces featured no arm holes, while others walked on stilts — exhibiting the idea of restriction within fashion. Each model steps up with a different walk, a different pose and a different story. They display the clothes through their walks and moods, allowing the audience to be in on what the designer conjured up within their minds. Models drift by each other, one after another displaying a different sense of style and being. The juxtaposition between the spectacle of the clothes and foreboding music created an even more interactive experience for both the audience and the clothes. As the models continue to flaunt and flourish, onlookers crane their necks once they disappear out of view, bodies twisting and contorting to get one last look at their favorite piece before it vanishes.
To finish off the show, Mia Bachrack ’25 has two models conjoined to create one ballgown, one vision. The two models hold hands and walk side by side, holding a head between the two of them creating the illusion that they are one being. As the last models slip into the backstage area, designers pair up with their individual models and begin their march down the aisle.They glide down the walkway garnering thunderous applause. The parade begins to slow, loud cheers ensue and onlookers show their support for the designers, models and members.
After the last models and designers slink backstage, the Cornell Fashion Collective executive board crowds the runway. A row of black lines up before everyone, faces of ellation shine back onto the onlookers. Julia Roos ’25 and Mattie Nguyen ’25, co-presidents for CFC, step up and begin their closing words. They give their thanks to all participants and viewers; closing it off with a reminder of the spring show happening on March 2, 2025.
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This spectacle of fashion highlighted the immense talent that Cornell fashion students carry within themselves and how clothing contributes to self expression and understanding. Each model, designer and CFC member contributed an outstanding effort into this show and it was clearly manifested through this “Evening at the Circus.”
Eve Riskind is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at [email protected].