With the Siebel Center for Design packed to standing room only, models strutted down the runway in the seventh installment of the Circular Fashion Expo on Saturday. CFE.7 featured models from The Fashion Network, Dressember and BLNKD, who took to the stage to raise environmental awareness by showcasing outfits created from recycled materials.
Since its inception in 2022, CFE has drawn crowds to its unique and environmentally-focused runway show. This semester’s production was no different, calling students to action to protect the planet while hosting a space for creatives to showcase their art.
CFE.7’s theme was a journey through the past, present and future of society, with each participating organization focusing on one of those aspects. Act one, the primeval, began the show with the past, where BLNKD explored the origins of the human race.
“For past, we decided to go in the lens of folklore,” said Sasha Vry, senior in FAA and BLNKD executive board member. “So all of our models are basing themselves off of their own cultures or what stories their family has told them.”
Models walked the runway embodying the spirit of their chosen character. Vry dressed as a Baba Yaga, a Slavic witch, and other models dressed as vampires and werewolves. The rest of the models chose to wear culturally significant dress, such as that of the Japanese geisha.
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Vry said she believes that the folklore theme allowed models a unique opportunity to bond with each other through cultural expression.
At the end of the act, the models came together and danced as the music switched to an upbeat party vibe.
Jasmyne Ruffin, senior in AHS, said act one was her favorite part of the show.
“There was beautiful artistic expression, there was cultural expression in there as well that I really enjoyed in the fashion that was displayed,” Ruffin said.
Act two, the liminal, was put on by Dressember and focused on the present. According to the act’s opening statements, the models’ outfits were meant to represent the fragmented, disoriented and unseen, highlighting the organization’s mission to fight against human trafficking.
“I appreciate that they bring light to issues that are prevalent in our society and that we should have a call to action to do more about,” Ruffin said.
Models in this act walked the runway with an angry and distressed attitude, reaching out towards the crowd and dragging themselves along the walkway railings. The models wore distressed and bloodied clothing, with some models revealing fake exposed organs attached to their outfits.
Lastly, act three was put on by TFN and explored a dystopian future society where humanity is divided by class and structure. Models walked in different styles depending on their class: upper, middle and lower.
The upper-class models wore futuristic and monochrome black and white outfits, followed by the lower classes, who trailed behind in tattered outfits with chain-like elements.
The show ended with all the models walking in brightly colored masks, held up with long, claw-like nails behind the show’s director and senior in FAA, William Hohe.
Vry said that this show, like the ones before, is an opportunity for University creatives to come together and celebrate their art, which she is grateful to continue to have.
“We are very much a bustling community of creatives that go a little bit unknown,” Vry said. “We want to be able to showcase our desire, our craving, our push. We are hungry as creatives on campus.”
