Edgy fashions bring Wonderland to SU

Although Seattle University's Lee Center for the Arts may not be amongst the ranks of London, Paris and Milan when it comes to fashion, it came one step closer with the Fashion Club's third annual Fashion Show "On My Block: We're All Mad Here," shown to a sold-out, standing room only audience April 1.

Though some might think social justice and fashions have little in common, the show also brought these two themes together, with all $1861 in proceeds going to Dress for Success, an international nonprofit agency that donates professional dress clothes to low-income women to help them succeed in finding and holding steady employment.


"Fashion can help people and make a difference," said Fashion Club president and founder Sarah Butler, senior visual arts and humanities major.


The show was the culminating event of the year for Fashion Club, which relied entirely on its student members divided into various committees within the club to organize the show and oversee production. The choice of clothes modeled in the show hinged on the support of local stores and designers, who donated everything that was shown, as modeled by Seattle U students.

The designers contributing to this year's show include Suzabelle, The Industry, Neodandi, Horseshoe, Strut and other local stores. Although the theme of the evening was inspired by "Alice in Wonderland," designers did not adhere strictly to that theme but presented their own designs.

The fashions reflected the spring lines of the designers, and each designer was given their own scene in which to showcase their clothes. Designs from Horseshoe focused on floral prints, summery cuts and whites mixed with light pastel colors. The Industry featured menswear designs with a variety of patterns and fabrics. Suzabelle featured more clean, classic lines with solid bold colors and stripes prominent in many of their designs. Strut's designs focused on shape and cut, and Neodandi presented a cohesive collection of suits, skirts, and blouses all with unique details, such as script writing, repeated in all outfits.

While all scenes had standouts, the finale featuring designs from Neodandi presented the most unified collection, with the pieces focusing on classic styles redesigned in new ways; elements of ruching (a way of gathering fabric around a seam to) and tearing provided a twist to more traditional looks.

The theme was mainly shown in the runway itself, a square set-up rather than the typical long rectangular runway holding props that models interacted with throughout the show, such as a chair and table reminiscent of the tea party scene from the story. In various scenes, models would sit and pose in the chair, framed by a backdrop of colorful and unique flowers and other assorted props. While the theme did not require designers to adhere strictly to designs inspired by the book, it gave them a way to showcase the creativity and fun of designing new lines.

Hannah Reid, sophomore fine arts and sociology major, oversaw lighting for the show and Joey Butler, sophomore business management major, provided music. Each helped create an extremely professional and well-executed backdrop to the fashions and set, making it feel more like a professional runway show.


The theme was even carried out in the catering of the event: "Alice" themed food was served to guests after the event. The "On My Block" aspect of the show was a way to involve everyone in the community in Seattle fashion and share the club's connection to fashion with others in the community, according to Sarah Butler. This included bags provided to VIP guests with products from companies around the city.

Butler notes that after the first two years of adjusting and planning how to better execute the show, this was their "best year yet," where all the elements of the show came together and proceeds totaling $600 more than last year. Now that the show is over, the club will continue to meet to discuss plans for the rest of the year, although nothing major has yet been determined.

Olivia may be reached at ojohnson@su-spectator.com