In 2012, Kent State fashion design majors who were unable to show in the Fashion School’s annual April fashion show started Kent Fashion Week, a three-day event at 157 Lounge in downtown Kent.

Now in its third year, the May 1-3 show has evolved into a new format, Kent Fashion Week committee head and senior fashion design major Ariel Pingault said.

“As Kent Fashion Week has developed; we don’t want to make it so that it’s a kind of rebellion against the show,” she said. “It’s about the opportunity to showcase everything that [the senior design majors] have worked so hard on in the past year.”

Pingault said Fashion School Director J.R. Campbell supports Kent Fashion Week, but the show is not a partnership between the school and 157 Lounge.

“It’s by the seniors, and for the seniors,” Pingault said.

This year’s free event is designed to be more intimate than the runway-style fashion show that the fashion school puts on, Morgan Montgomery, Kent Fashion Week public relations director and senior fashion design major, said.

“It’s got a different vibe,” Montgomery said. “The audience will be able to interact with the clothing more and can even ask the designers questions.”

This year, for the first time, two collections will be on display for 30 minutes at a time, each of the nights at 157 Lounge. This event model will allow the seniors more time to showcase their collections, said Miranda Scott, senior fashion design major and member of the committee.

“We’ve all worked on our collections for a year now,” Scott said. “It’s going to be great to showcase a bigger crowd of students’ work.”

Montgomery said the committee looks to the student body to find models for the show.

“We’ll take down general information, make sure that female models can walk in heels and take pictures,” she said.

The event is free to enter because of fundraising efforts by the committee. There have been several events this year where proceeds from sushi and drink sales at 157 Lounge have gone toward supporting the shows, Montgomery said.

“We also plan on having more fundraising events at other Kent locations,” she said.

More information about the event overall can be found on Kent Fashion Week’s Facebook and Twitter.

 Contact Jake Green at [email protected].