Lights, glitz and glamour are what people usually associate with the fashion industry, but there is much more to the world of fashion than sparkly sequence dresses and lavish runway shows.

“People think it’s such a glamorous life and think we are making so much money, but it’s hard,” said Omar Villalobos, junior in Fashion Business at Columbia College Chicago.

Villalobos is the vice president of the growing fashion label GOCA, started by our University’s very own, Gordana Rasic, senior in LAS.

Creating and expanding GOCA is a task that demands an incredible amount of dedication and passion, and Rasic and Villalobos are very familiar with the sacrifices that need to be made to start a business and keep it going.

“We are so broke. We had to eat at McDonald’s because we couldn’t afford Panera,” Villalobos joked.

GOCA is essentially a small group of people headed by Rasic and Villalobos that exert all their time and effort to keeping it alive. They must advertise the label, get sponsors and rally in buyers, and these are just the general aspects — the details of actual designing and putting on shows are even more duteous, Rasic said.

Rasic and Villalobos are responsible for everything from hiring the models to hair and makeup. This is all on top of designing, picking the venues, creating a media kit and choosing the right shoes and music for each show.

“Fashion is like telling a story,” said Grace Ajanaku, senior in LAS and project manager of the label. “You are trying to tell a story through the clothing you are presenting, and you have to make sure all the elements are right so people can see what you are trying to portray.”

Ajanaku is working on getting buyers for GOCA, which is the key business aspect of GOCA because it’s what keeps people interested in purchasing their designs to market to customers, she said.

But getting buyers is difficult if no one knows who you are. Luckily for GOCA, they have established themselves quickly with the help of social media.

“(For) anybody starting a business in any sense or any kind of entrepreneurship, social media is the biggest platform to help launch your career,” Rasic said.

GOCA has been around for just a year, yet they already have a dedicated following, thanks to their exposure at the University and also at Columbia College in Chicago.

“Gordana and Omar have worked their butts off to establish themselves in the Chicago fashion scene,” Ajanaku said. “They raised money to be featured designers at New York Fashion Week.”

A goal of GOCA’s is for individuals to see their work as art, as well as fashion.

“When other people look at GOCA as an artistic venue and not just fashion design, but rather a house of art, that’s when I know we’ve reached our goal,” Rasic said.

Rasic and Villalobos are also looking forward to launching their charity, which is a scholarship program that allows young and aspiring designers to intern with them for three weeks and earn a scholarship to fashion schools like the Fashion Institute of Technology.

“What motivates us is hearing from people who get inspired by the work we do at GOCA at such a young age so they go out and pursue their dreams as well,” Villalobos said. “We want to give back to the students.”

Future events for GOCA include the launch of their Fall & Winter 2012 collection in Chicago on April 13, which tickets are on sale for online.

But on top of the Fall & Winter collection, GOCA will appear in another show on campus for College Fashion Week on April 14. College Fashion Week starts April 9 and ends with the big fashion show April 14.

The entire week will have info seminars, style competitions, a night out and a huge fashion show.

“College Fashion Week is more about bringing out fashion to a college campus,” Rasic said.

For Rasic and the rest of those involved with GOCA, the line is more than just a business.

“Much of the fashion industry has turned into gaining a profit, just plainly a business,” Rasic said. “But fashion and art is a dialogue. ‘Fashion Designer’ isn’t just an occupation — it’s an artistry. Designers should have messages behind their work.”

The current theme for their collection is the Elegance for Maturity, which questions whether maturity is something prescribed by age or through personal experience.

Rasic and the others at GOCA feel that the fashion industry has lost its sense of artistic integrity, and are hoping to breathe life into what it means be a fashion designer.

“That’s ultimately why we are doing this, to kind of restore what the fashion industry is about,” Villalobos said. “It’s not glamour, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle. It’s more than just a 9 to 5 work schedule.”

Building a business is difficult, and Rasic, Villalobos and Ajanaku can vouch for that. They stay motivated by having passion in the fashion business and seeing it as more than just a job, but rather a tool they can use to inspire and innovate.

“Once you’ve rid the term ‘failure’ from your vocabulary, anything is possible,” Rasic said. “If you have the word ‘failure’ in your daily dialogue, it means you are doubting yourself, and if you want the world to stop doubting you, you have to stop doubting yourself. You just have to go out there and take a risk.”