While 800 audience members waited for the show to start, hairstylists, makeup artists and models spent the final minutes frantically getting ready backstage.

Models took turns standing in a V shape on stage at “The Time is Now,” the annual fashion show by the School of Fashion Design and Merchandising.

This year, the 37 senior collections ranged from white wedding dresses to casual men’s clothing to ruffled children’s pieces to daring lingerie.

Amanda Cowsert, senior fashion design major, designed a clothing line for girls. Four little girls ran across the stage posing in their bows and ruffled dresses. The crowd laughed and clapped as the little girls waved to the crowd and ran off.

Phillip Fry, senior fashion design major, had pieces that changed design direction with his lingerie collection — something that hasn’t been done before.

“I feel like that set me aside from everyone else,” he said. “It was a real challenge because we don’t have the proper machinery at the school, so I had to do it on my own with the machines that we had. It worked out well.”

Fry’s lingerie pieces both surprised and intrigued the audience.

“My inspiration was seduction, armor and different skin tones like being naked, having the appearance of being nude without actually being nude,” he said. “I really just wanted to do a sexy line to make a woman feel sexy and feel like she has power over a man in the game of seduction.”

A model for Iana Guerlimova, senior fashion design major, walked on stage with a fur hat, removed it and draped it across her body like a purse.

Other pieces from seniors included long peachy gowns, naval-inspired swimsuits, Grecian-style dresses and high-waisted pants.

“Black holes were the inspiration for my designs, just thinking about things others normally wouldn’t,” said Caitlin Nugent, senior fashion design major.

For the models, preparations started in January.

“The hardest part about modeling was not to be nervous at first,” said Lauren Mullin, model and freshman fashion merchandising major. “Right before you go on, you have the music going and your nerves are going but in the end it’s really fun.”

The audience erupted in a clapping uproar after each collection. Each of the designers and one of their models took turns bowing and waving to the applauding crowd when the show ended.

The judges for this year’s competition were Leanne Marshall, 2008 Project Runway winner; Jeff Mahshie, senior designer for Lord & Taylor; and Jeff Bergus, designer for J.C. Penney

and IZOD.

J.R. Campbell, director of the School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, announced winners and presented awards. Staci Moening, Lindsay Dare and Zachary Hoh, senior fashion design majors, were selected as the winners. Best in Show went to Abigail Drake, senior fashion design major.

Taylor Reynolds, early childhood education major, said she really liked Drake’s line.

“I absolutely loved the show,” Reynolds said. “This is my first show I’ve been to, so I was so excited to be here, and I was not disappointed.”

Contact Yelena Tischenko at [email protected].