Fashion design students showcase collections in VPA senior show

On Thursday, the 7th floor of The Nancy Cantor Warehouse transformed from its usual design and crafting space to a full-on fashion week runway. The wraparound walkway that circled the floor was lined with three rows of seats that quickly filled up, leaving eager friends, family and spectators to stand in any extra space they could find.

However, these close quarters seemed to lend itself to the idea that Jeffrey Mayer, fashion design professor and program coordinator, explained during his welcome speech.

“This year we have you in the space where they work so hard… it’s really like you’re here in their home,” Mayer said.

James Fathers, director of the School of Design, also emphasized how much time and effort they put in here.

“You might actually see some spots of blood on the floor,” Father said.

Every student took a different approach to their original collection, with some focusing on a certain region of the world or era of time. Others tried to embody a feeling through their designs. Music of the designer’s choice pumped through the room as they prepped their models to walk.

During Felicia Underwood’s collection, models of all body types received cheers and applause as they owned the runway in their “Thrifted Luxury” designs. Underwood combined textiles found from thrift stores with modern cuts and styles to create her collection as an homage to the lost art of home sewing.

Another collection that grabbed the crowd’s attention was Annie Carson’s “High Noon Ski”. Her designs of heavy fabrics in fresh and sleek cuts were inspired by the luxury lifestyle of the French Alps. One standout piece was an overfilled puffer jacket patterned by a ski mountain trail map that seemed surprisingly wearable.

Monica Zuckerman’s collection “ISA” was also based around a dreamy, mountainous location, but she took her designs down a different route by trying to encapsulate “a Utopia of what the future most likely will not become.” She mixed pastels and metallics across sheer and satin fabrics to create a well-balanced ethereal collection.

One of the last collections titled “Lavable,” designed by Alexandra Wojnowski, was paying tribute to the fact that Syracuse University has the only furnace that can melt obsidian into flowing lava. The designs started out in tones of smoky gray with earthy touches, like one dress featuring a black rock hanging across the model’s body on a silver chain. Then came flashes of red on textured fabrics to complete the simple yet edgy vision of the line.

After the last model of each collection walked the runway, the designer was able to come out and take in all her hard work culminating to this moment. And at the end of the show, all 19 designers took the runway one last time — laughing, hugging each other, and walking arm in arm. As their gift to their professors, the designers presented a framed artistic photo of all of them posing together to remember them by.