Auburn University's annual fashion event, Soiree, will be making a fashion statement on Thursday, March 27, at the Auburn Arena. The show is a product of the Department of Consumer and Design Sciences, Apparel Merchandising and Design Association and the students in the fashion show management course.
The show will have a gallery and a runway portion.
"[The gallery] is basically a gallery that displays experimental designs, which [are] designs that aren't supposed to be worn," said Alexandra Gilreath, junior in apparel merchandising and co-coordinator of the fashion show. "They're just more of like, an art piece, and they are made out of unconventional materials. Then there will be merchandising and design portfolios that will be displayed around the gallery."
According to Gilreath, the runway portion will be split into four different sections. They will include pieces from an alumni designer with Southern Fashion House, designs from a Korean university Auburn has partnered with, Auburn student designs and designs from International Textile and Apparel Association.
Katherine Knell, sophomore in apparel merchandising and budget committee chair, said there's a benefit to having a wide variety of designs.
"We have current students, we have students that have graduated and made a name for themselves and are showing some of their works in the show, as well as international students [. . .] kind of just drawing on creativity from all different angles," Knell said.
The show will also feature videos explaining the purpose of the show and introducing some of the designers.
Chance Nowell, junior in apparel design and marketing chair and media co-chair for the fashion show, helped with the videos.
"There's going to be some designer spotlight videos which will just talk about what it means to designers to have to be able to show their garments on the runway and how they've grown as a group together [. . .] under the pressures of our program," Nowell said.
The Korean students will also have a video shown, as will Southern Fashion House, explaining their brand.
The Korean students will not be present at the show with their garments, but Auburn students will soon have a chance to send their pieces to Korea to be featured in the fashion show at the university in Korea.
Nowell said while most fashion shows have six to 12 months to be planned, they have been able to plan this fashion show in approximately two and a half months.
"The show is, of course, for entertainment for people who don't know what we do," Nowell said. "The biggest thing that we do is try to show off the things that we've created throughout the year [. . .] we do a lot of hard work that people don't see and this show is really a chance for people to see how much hard work and dedication we do put into our craft."
Some of the proceeds from the show will go to an AMDA Peer Giving Scholarship that is presented to multiple students of the faculty's choice, Nowell said.
The gallery will open at 6 p.m., and the runway show starts at 7:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $15, and premier seating is $50, which includes VIP seating in the front row. To purchase tickets go online at www.humsci.auburn.edu/fashion.
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