Sophomore designers show off their work at Little Black Dress fashion show

Models walk the runway at the conclusion of the Little Black Dress Fashion Show on Thursday in Rockwell Hall. Photo by Jacob Byk.

Lyndsey Sager

Hundreds filled the Rockwell auditorium Thursday night for the second annual Little Black Dress Sophomore Walk-Off.

The show, which began at 7:30 p.m. and was hosted by the Fashion School’s 2012 Annual Fashion show management team, featured 27 sophomore fashion design majors who created their own little black dresses in class during the Fall 2011 semester.

Lisa Daronatsy, one of the sophomore designers, said they were required to use the black fabric given to them in class and draw inspiration from architecture. She said they could either use just the black fabric or could add their own touch with colors, lace or anything else.

Daronatsy said the black dresses were their final project last fall, and they worked on them for about three weeks.

“My favorite part of the show was finally seeing my dress in motion,” Daronatsy said. “It’s nice on a form, but even better on a person.”

Natalie Sullinger, freshman fashion design major, said she thought the show had a lot of good work compared to other shows she has seen.

“I thought it was interesting to see so many different takes on the little black dress,” Sullinger said.

Madison Kuhner, another freshman fashion designer major, said she also liked the little black dress theme.

“I’m really looking forward to participating in the show next year,” Kuhner said. “The little black dress is a classic and I’m excited to work with it.”

Tickets for the show were $3 at the door with ticket sales benefiting the Annual Fashion Show, which will be held April 20 and 21 in the E. Turner Stump Theatre in the Music and Speech building, said Brittany Mizelle, senior fashion merchandising major and model coordinator. Tickets for that show are currently on sale at www.tix.com.

“[We] produce the Little Black Dress show to better understand, as a team, the requirements of fashion show planning so that we can better produce the Annual Fashion Show,” said Mizelle, who is also a coordinator for the Annual Fashion Show.

Mizelle correctly guessed the show would come close to filling the Rockwell Auditorium, which she said holds about 250 people.

Brittany Miller, one of the sophomore designers, said it was nice to finally see her work go down the runway.

“After all the work you put into this, it’s nice to have that 30 seconds where your work is on the stage,” Miller said.

Contact Lyndsey Sager at [email protected].