Kirkwood students prepare for annual fashion show

Plastic bags will share the stage with tulle and high heels as the annual Kirkwood Community College Fashion show will come to life this Sunday.

The student-run show will feature students' work, as well as guest designer and former Kirkwood student Emily Carlson, who now has created the brand Peplum and Paisley. Carlson said this is a great opportunity for anyone willing to become more involved in fashion, even in the Midwest state.

'I hope this gives people the excitement for fashion,” the 29-year-old said. 'It can be anywhere, even in Iowa.”

The show takes students from the Fashion Apparel and Merchandising program to raise funds, create clothing, and model for the show. It will be held this Sunday at the Hotel at Kirkwood, 7725 Kirkwood Blvd SW, Cedar Rapids, at 5 p.m.

This year's theme of the show is Urban Allure, and one fashion class challenged its students to create a piece of clothing, with a twist: there would be no use of fabric or sewing. Erin Gibson, a first year student at Kirkwood, created a dress out of plastic bags from Walmart.

'I was going for a summer bohemian look,” she said. 'It was actually easier than I thought it would be, because you didn't have to worry about what you'd have to sew. You can do a lot with recycled materials to wear every day.”

Not everyone involved in the show may want to directly design clothes, such as second year student Jamie Whittman, who hopes to be a buyer someday. However, the passion for fashion is still there for her, and she said she hopes the show will ignite other people's interests as well while possibly showing off the program at Kirkwood.

'I think it's important to have a fashion show because it's important to have the designer-students and their apparel shown to the public to represent the program,” she said. 'It's nice to show what we've been working on all semester.”

Carlson added she hopes people will be able to see the importance of fashion and its achievable status, no matter where a designer may start out.

'It is what you make it,” she said. 'There are larger markets, like New York or L.A. but you can make it. Especially in this day and age with social media, you can promote yourself internationally with the click of a button.”

Student director of the show, Javier Ducker, said it's crucial to have these fashion shows because they are more rare in Iowa, and hopes everyone will support the show this weekend.

'[The lack of shows in the area is] probably why this fashion show and others in the state are so important,” he said. 'If we do more, we can grow our own niche and expand more.”

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