Tickets available for circus-themed event

The Beaux Arts Ball is still a few weeks away, and student designers are hard at work, sketching, pinning, fitting and sewing his or her garments.

The Beaux Arts Ball will be from 8 p.m. to midnight Nov. 20 in the Student Center Ballroom. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Student Center starting next week.

The circus-themed event is hosted by the Fashion Student Organization, the Interior Design Student Collaborative and the American Institute of Architecture Students.

To meet the Nov. 16 judging deadline, many fashion students are clocking in several hours a week to bring their designs from mind to paper, paper to muslin and muslin to garments.

Designers were given a list of circus-themed subgroups to join, such as “Fashionable Clowns,” “Graceful Entertainment” and “Animal Instincts.”

After picking a group, designers were assigned models.

“Some designers had specific models they wanted to work with, so we let them choose,” said FSO secretary Monika Lange. “The only requirement was that all the models had to audition.”

For FSO fashion shows, there are no model height or weight requirements.

“We like the keep it really simple,” she said. “As long as you have a good personality and you can walk and present yourself well, you can be a model for FSO.”

Sophomore fashion design major Sean Rice is one of four designers in the “Untamables” group. To help guide the group, Rice concocted a narrative to connect all six of the group’s collaborative garments.

Rice said the collection focuses on post-apocalyptic Siberia and a nomadic tribe that survived World War III.

“The cosmonauts come down from the International Space Station and find them,” he said. “Then they are trying to break free from slavery.”

Mike Pennick, junior fashion design major and member of the “Untamables,” said he and his group picked the group because it fit with the idea the rest of the group came up with.

“I have central ideas, and (Rice) made a disgusting story,” he said. “Our male model is the slave driver-ish guy; all the females are slaves to the circus.”

Although sophomore fashion design major Rachel Koester does not have a story to go along with her design, she still has an idea about what her final garment will look like.

“I am going for a spooky carnival look,” she said. “It’s autumn colors like oranges, reds and yellows.”

Koester describes her design as “tent-like.” Several fabrics will be connected with beaded rope so the garment can be tied up. Underneath will be a short pencil skirt.

“When you let go of it, it will all fall down,” she said.

Sophomore fashion design major Sarah Ineson is a part of the “Dark Arts” group and has already spent many weekends in Rockwell Hall working on her medieval-inspired dress. Ineson was inspired by traditional ringleader costumes.

“They have a very military-inspired embellishment,” Ineson said. “I am adding very rigid sleeves.”

Ineson is not worried about completing her design before the deadline. For her senior portfolio, Ineson completed 14 designs in three months.

Ineson’s design will feature rich colors and hand-sewed embroidery.

“My OCD definitely kicks in on projects like these. It has to be perfect,” she said. “You have to be motivated and love what you do. You can tell the people who don’t come in and put time into it. Their quality isn’t as good.”

Contact fashion reporter Sarah James at [email protected]