Students make retro fashion statement

Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez
Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez
Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez
Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez
Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez
Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez
Photo by Eduisac Gutierrez

Michael Burkett

Staff writer 

The Fashion Department’s Fash Direction & Coordination (FASH 47) class performed at Smith Hall on May 5, showing off retro fashions from the 1980s and 90s along with some of today’s fall fashions.

The looks were put together by clothes donated from Goodwill’s flagship store on the corner of Mission and South Van Ness.

Bruce Kotrys and Diane Green, the chair of the Fashion Department, coordinated the show.

The show was opened enthusiastically by Green who praised her students. After she spoke, Bill Haley and the Comets classic hit “Rock Around the Clock” started and the first model up was a young black haired lady with a full length crushed red velvet dress.

All the looks would have been at home with the casts of “The Breakfast Club”, “Sixteen Candles”, “Big”, “Porky’s” or many other movies from the 1980s or 90s.

There were ten models with 17 looks – formal, casual or semi-casual, from the two decades. There were platform, ankle high, open toe, sandal straps and traditional high heels, as well as loafers, but no sneakers.

One model wore a pale blue dress with pale yellow crosshatching that reached her thighs. The look was reminiscent of Jackie O’s fabulous summer dresses by Cristobal Balenciaga. The only missing piece for the ensemble was the iconic pillbox hat that Balenciaga designed for the former first lady.

Bruce Kotrys informed the crowd  that this was put on by the Fashion Coordination (Fashion 47) class as their final production of the year.

Green, who has been teaching at City College for over 30 years, was full of praise for “the wonderful students”, and her enthusiasm for fashion was obvious to everyone in the crowd.

“You can’t teach here without getting paid someone told me. So I applied for, and got a check for something I love doing,” Green said.

This was the final show for this class, but there will be another at Smith Hall on Tuesday, May 12 and the department is hosting a big show Sunday, May 17 at Ruby Skye starting at 5:00 p.m.