Models sporting jewelry and garments designed and constructed by current and former Occidental students strutted around the Gilman Fountain April 5 as part of the Flaneur Fashion Show, the second annual fashion show at Occidental.
According to Co-Director Tori Iturralde (senior), organizing the show this year differed significantly from the previous year’s show, dubbed TENS, which they directed as well.
“The first one, we decided very late in the year, in the spring semester, that we wanted to do it,” Iturralde said. “This time, we had all of fall semester and most of spring to organize everything.”
Iturralde said the name of the show, “Flaneur,” is a French term for an aristocratic man who wanders the streets of Paris appreciating art and culture.
“We wanted to bend that definition a little bit to appreciate the art and culture that comes with fashion,” Iturralde said.
According to Iturralde, the name was not meant to place any specific restraints on the way that designers approached their work.
“It was more of an inspiration for the concept behind the show,” Iturralde said.
One of those designers, Sheea Sau (junior), said she became interested in fashion at a very young age.
“My parents owned a dry cleaning business when I was growing up,” Sau said. “They taught me how to use a sewing machine, and I’d play around while they were working.”
According to Sau, she pulls from a variety of inspirations when she designs clothing.
“I like people-watching,” Sau said. “Especially at Oxy, there’s a lot of fashionable people.”
According to Sau, she does not generally make clothes from scratch, but she uses a sewing machine she brought to campus to do alterations.
“I love ‘thrift flips,’ where you buy a piece of clothing and repurpose it for a different piece of clothing,” Sau said.
Many of the pieces Sau designed for the show were repurposed from old pieces of fabric and clothing that family and friends gave her, Sau said. Sau said her aim with the collection was to generate nostalgia for the 2000s.
“At the moment, I love early 2000s fashion, so my collection is heavily based on early 2000s [fashion],” Sau said. “So it’s going to have a lot of graphics, a lot of color, a lot of layering.”
Syd Neff (senior) served as one of the other directors of the show, as well as one of the hosts. According to Neff, the full event staff totaled to about 100 people.
“Organizing a team of almost 100 people is so incredibly difficult, especially full-time students,” Neff said. “It takes so much tender loving care, patience and empathy.”
Neff said one of the goals for the show was to break down common misconceptions of fashion as an art form.
“There’s a connotation of the fashion world that is highly cosmopolitan, highly elite, highly exclusive, over-serious,” Neff said. “We wanted something that was focused on inclusivity, diversity, representation and fun.”
Before the models walked down the runway, they had to be prepared for the occasion backstage in Lower Herrick. Neff said that almost everyone that staffed the show was backstage during the event.
“It genuinely feels like you’re on Project Runway,” Neff said. “The sense of urgency is there, the hyper-awareness and acuteness to where each person has to be at exactly the right time.”
One of those models was Elena Dinguis (sophomore), who had been a model in the past but for whom the runway was a new experience.
“It’s always been something that brought me a lot of joy,” Dinguis said. “I love anything creative, and I consider fashion modeling very creative.”
Dinguis said she is modeling for two designers and planned different routines for each designer.
“Lucy [Roberts] is focusing on jewelry-making, and for that it’ll be less of a ‘serving face’ and more of showing off the jewelry, doing poses,” Dinguis said. “When it come to Frankie [Vega’s], it’ll definitely be more serious.”
According to Dinguis, while most model auditions occurred in the Johnson Hall Atrium, she auditioned via a video that she sent to the designers.
“I had on an all-black outfit to make it very neutral and to make sure [the designers] could envision me in their clothes,” Dinguis said.
According to Iturralde, the show placed a stronger emphasis on media this time around. Sadie Ballot (senior) was the primary media director for the show. Ballot said there were some challenges with the media last year.
“Last year, some people didn’t have their collections filmed at all,” Ballot said. “This year, we’re working really hard to make sure everyone has their collection filmed and everyone has good pieces to put in their portfolio after.”
According to Ballot, the show’s location at the Gilman Fountain gave a lot more opportunities at all ends.
“We had to limit our team; I think we only had 20 models last year,” Ballot said. “This year, we get to have so many people involved, we get to make it a much more community-oriented event, we’re encouraging people to bring picnic blankets.”
Iturralde said the importance of organization for a fashion show cannot be overstated.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in a fashion show,” Iturralde said. “You need to keep track of all of the models, how the designers are doing […] if you’re not organized and the production isn’t of quality, then the event itself won’t be.”
According to Neff, looking forward, the goal is for the fashion show to be an annual tradition that provides another outlet for students to express themselves.
“Everybody has such a unique style, and people feel comfortable to express that,” Neff said. “You can feel the value on individuality and uniqueness.”
Contact Avinash Iyer at iyera@oxy.edu
