Glow-in-the-dark fabric, sassy models and a full house are only a few ways to describe Rock the Runway. With 10 designers, all freshmen and sophomores, sophomore fashion design major Angelique Wong had plenty to work with as this year’s host on March 7.

Wong, having previously participated in Rock the Runway, and now working for Flash Activities Board (FAB), she had the opportunity to host the yearly fashion show with a $1,000 prize.

“We started planning and I requested to be host for the show,” Wong said. 

The show’s theme was glow-in-the-dark, and the majority of the designers said it was a learning process as they had never worked with this kind of fabric before. The themes of the designs ranged from angels, to futuristic tribal and yarn.

The judges had 10 minutes to choose a winner, and in that time frame a video was shown of all of the designers responding to questions about the show. The collection “Electro Savage” created by sophomore fashion design major Jayda Breiding, won first place.

In the video, Breiding said her main inspiration for the collection was “ancient, middle eastern tribal wear.” Her biggest challenge was working with the fur and sequin materials used on her first two looks. Her favorite part of Rock the Runway is working with the models.

“I feel so relieved, I’m so excited,” Breiding said. “I was taking 18 credit hours, working a part time job and then working on this. It was super stressful but I had so much fun making all of these pieces.”

The collection “Yarn Glow” by sophomore fashion design major Destinee Ramsey, won audience’s choice. The use of yarn was specifically noted by judge Stephanie Smith and when asked about how long it took to crochet the yarn, it ranged from one day to four weeks.

“I wanted to be different,” Ramsey said in the video. “I wanted to use different materials that I knew nobody else would use, so I went with yarn.”

During intermission, Wong invited all kids ages 12 and under on stage to strut their way down the runway.

Christine Nelson, a grad assistant in the Center for Student Involvement who worked closely with the judges and designers, said it was an exciting process.

“I think tonight went really well, the audience was very engaged,” Nelson said. “I know the judges had an amazing time. I think our designers this year were really strong and really unique in their designs.”

Kaitlyn Finchler is the photo editor. Contact her at [email protected].