Fashion Associates (FA) brought peace, love and fashion to Ohio University with their annual Mom’s Weekend Fashion Show on April 11.
“The theme is Woodstock so we’re going for kind of a festival, 70’s, Coachella vibe,” said model Halley Hinderer.
The scene included models strutting down the sunflower dusted runway dressed in outfits with a modern spin on the 60s hippie fashion. Songs from Woodstock performers like The Byrds and Bob Dylan turned Baker Ballroom into Bethel, NY in the summer of ’69.
“[The style is] flowers in the hair and bronzed makeup, very free spirit and sun-kissed,” said Hinderer, who was also the Hair and Makeup Chair for the show.
Mimi Stillman and Lisa Baker get ready for the show backstage.
The bohemian aura of music festivals, like Coachella and Bonnaroo, has become a “cultural phenomenon, a movement to express the vision of love, peace and freedom [for 20-somethings]”, said Page Corwin of SMU Fashion Media.
The eclectic music festival fashion is an increasingly prevalent trend among millennials, popularized by celebrity fest frequenters like Kendall Jenner and Vanessa Hudgens, according to Corwin.
“There are a lot of fests coming up just in the summer, like Coachella, all of that. I think it’s really relatable and youthful,” said Mimi Stillman, a Media Arts and Studies major and model in the show.
Baker Ballroom was packed with OU students and their moms on April 11th.
Not to forget about the main audience of the event: the mothers of this Coachella-crazed generation. This year’s theme resonated well with the adult audience, being a “blast from the past” for moms.
“Yeah you know what, I think the theme of the show today is really fun and youthful, it’s lighthearted… and captures a lot of energy,” said Laura Stillman, mother of Mimi Stillman. “I’m always excited to see whatever artistic endeavors Mimi has in store and I’m looking forward to a great Mom’s Weekend.”
Model from Athens Underground.
According to Jordan Lemke, Fashion Show Coordinator, the Mom’s Weekend Fashion Show has been an event for FA since the 1980s with themes like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and “What Happens in Athens.”
The “hippie chic” wardrobe for the 2015 show was pulled from local stores, who have long standing relationships with FA, including Figleaf, Cato, Athens Underground, and The Other Place who donated their spring fashions to benefit the runway show.
“In return they get free advertising or we can put any of their promotional items in our program and they can set up a table,” said Allison Hoyt, Fashion Show Coordinator.
Among the promotional tables set up were Kelly Zabonik and Ashely Driscoll with Trend Tribe. According to trend-tribe.com, they are a New York City-based accessories company with on-trend and affordable jewelry that gives college students hands-on experience as “philanthropic fashionpreneurs.”
“We are ‘Trendsetters’, so it’s kind of like a campus ambassador situation,” said Zabonik, a Retail Merchandising major. “It’s more empowering because we kind of get to have our own business and work directly with the CEO of the company.”
Some of their jewelry was featured in the show, and one piece was donated for the raffle.
Model twirls at the end of the runway
The raffle, which comprised of donations from local businesses, is a key component to putting on the show every year and the proceeds go towards the FA scholarship fund.
“It’s really exciting we get to do this,” said Hoyt. “It goes to someone who’s enrolled in an internship this summer, so it helps them out a little bit, especially if they’re relocating.”
This year they were able to raise $620 from the raffle, according to Hoyt, which will help fund a member of FA’s internship.
Other than putting on an annual fashion show, FA holds weekly meetings that centralize around activities that heighten knowledge of the retail fashion industry.
Most of the members are in the Retail Merchandising major program so speaking with alumni from FA, networking trips to Chicago, and Skype interviews with representatives of companies like Designer Shoe Warehouse and The Limited help expand their connections with the retail industry.
“For me, my favorite thing is probably just meeting people within my major,” said Hoyt. “It’s also really great for networking, I’ve had a lot of friends graduate who I’ve talked to who’ve gone off to work in retail companies, so that’s been really nice.”
Conducting a student run fashion show that reaches over 500 people in attendance, according to a donation letter sent by FA, is a great skillset to show future employers, and this year’s show blew previous years’ out of the water.
“Oh my gosh the show went so well,” said Lemke. “The models did everything we needed them to… the show was a success! It was so much better than last year.”
Allison Hoyt poses with her family after the show.
FA will start planning next year’s show at the start of the spring semester.
Hoyt, a graduating senior, said, “I’m definitely excited for them to pick up here for next year, I think that they can only improve.”
This video recaps the annual Mom’s Weekend Fashion Show from Fashion Associates. This even was on Saturday April 11, 2015 and featured Woodstock-estque clothes from Figleaf, The Other Place, Maurices, and more!
All photo credit to myself
Lindsey Curnutte 