Fashion students put on runway show at Ocean campus cafeteria

City College fashion students styled and produced runway shows on Tuesday, Nov. 29, and Thursday, Dec. 1, each taking place in front of a lively audience in the cafeteria.

Tuesday’s show, “Almost Famous,” was full of retro looks from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The models walked to upbeat modern music as a crowd of students gathered and cheered them on.

“We started out with hippie casual, a more modern look,” said fashion student Sierra Lewis. “Then we went into our more authentic psychedelic ‘60s, and ended with the night life look of what you also might see in the ‘70s.”

Some of the looks included vintage fur coats with skinny jeans and modern platforms, short brightly-colored retro dresses with go-go boots, and short jean shorts worn with flowing loose-fit tops and moccasin boots. All of the models wore unique feather headbands made by one of the stylists of the show, Andrea Stefancikova.

Besides supplying a creative outlet for students, the fashion department at City College prepares students for the real world of fashion and helps them to pursue the area they are most interested in. Lewis says her goals are to continue working in the fashion industry and be involved in public relations and communications with designers and runway shows.

“I was never driven to do anything within this field until I found out there’s a course here where you can gain credits by getting experience within the fashion business,” Lewis said. “So I tried it and I loved it, and it’s what I want to do now.”

On the following Thursday, the fashion designers had another runway show, “Merging Lanes,” which was dramatically different from the last show. With a mixture of many modern styles coming together, the show exhibited an old school hip-hop influence.

“I thought of merging lanes,” said Erricka Gerald, the lead stylist, “a mixture of runway and cities merging together. It was a collaboration of high fashion in the streets of Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London and Africa. I love mixing things like dresses and sneakers, just playful. I wanted lots of color.”

The highlights included fun dresses worn with high-top sneakers, cute short skirts complimented by casual T-shirts and worn with brightly-colored heels, and shiny black leggings worn with a loose-fit tops under a military-style black jacket with bright blue platforms. Some of the models wore retro red lipstick that contrasted with their modern look. The crowd snapped photos on their cellphones and cheered them on as they flaunted their unique styles.

“I’m a dancer and I always made my own costumes,” Gerald said. “After realizing I enjoyed designing, I started working on my own clothing line. I’ve been in the fashion department here at City College for about a year and I’m moving to New York in a couple weeks to pursue my career. My goal is to have my own successful fashion line.”