On Saturday March 11th, Cornellians flocked to Barton Hall for the Cornell Fashion Collective’s 33rd Annual Runway Show. The show featured original designs from students across all years, modeled by their peers and even some family members. While the evening itself appeared effortlessly flawless, a tremendous amount of time and energy went into making the collections and the show as amazing as they were. We sat down with the CFC seniors to discuss the highs, lows and heroes of the preparation process.
Dana Lee, CFC President
High: The best moment when putting on the fashion show was getting to watch the whole thing become reality from backstage. It was an incredible feeling being able to see the insane amount of joy from designers as their last model walked off the stage.
Low: The worst moment when putting together the fashion show was probably my email getting shut down two days before the show — our reliance on technology is terrifying.
Hero: My heroes during all of this madness was definitely the past presidents who’ve done this. It was only after going through the motions myself that I realized how incredible they all were at their job. They all made it look so easy that I never even realized how much they were doing. Running the show while still keeping a smile on their face!
Tucker Shea, Vice President of CFC
High: My high point definitely has to be walking out on the stage after all the designers had shown their collections. Being able to finally exhale after watching them all send out incredible collections that made this show the best one yet was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
Low: Realizing that as a senior, this was my final CFC show.
Hero: Dana for being such an incredible leader, hard worker, and for making my job a million times easier. Without her, this show wouldn’t have been such resounding success. Ali Sima was a literal life saver for packing me lunch, snacks and bringing me dinner the day of the show as well as for supporting me throughout this whole process.
Rachel Powell, Roots
High: My high of the process was ultimately seeing how things came together in the transition from sketch to final product. In my collection I include outerwear like coats and jackets, and I was really happy with how they turned out.
Low: The low of the design process for me would probably have to be the fact that I’m still working on collection minutes before the show starts. It’s also hard trying to make everything look clean and professional, even though the collection itself has a kind of raw look.
Hero: That would have to be my whole family. My mom and grandma came up this week to help, and even my dad sewed straps on to one of my designs.
Samantha Stern, Der Stern
High: Definitely seeing it all come together in rehearsal and seeing everything working like I imagined.
Low: Two nights ago when I slept in the HumEc commons and woke up to literally everyone there. The building administrator came over to me and said, “You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you!”
Hero: My hero of this process would have to be Laura Zwanziger. She’s an alum who came back to help out and just was a tremendous help to me.
Molly Kestenbaum, The F Word
High: My high of the process would be having my vision come to life, because I’ve been imagining it for so long. My concept is destigmatize the notion of feminism and express that through clothing, so seeing that come to life has been really amazing.
Low: Not sleeping. I haven’t slept in four days.
Hero: My family and friends who have supported me through everything.
AJ Saunders, Ad-Just-Men
High: Pulling off sixteen looks and all my models being effortlessly beautiful on their own.
Low: The low-point of the process for me would have to have been getting a sinus infection the week before and pulling three all-nighters in a row.
Hero: Red Bull and my makeshift bedroom studio with Christmas lights!
Kennedy Rauh, Rarie
High: The high-point of the process would have to be today. It’s so nice having everyone here, especially my family. Five out of 10 of my models are family members, and it’s really nice to have them be a part of the process.
Low: Probably working until the last minute and not getting a lot of sleep over the past week and a half.
Hero: All my family is my hero. My collection is named after my grandmother (one of the designs even has her face on it) and I think my collection really embodies that.
Rachel Kwong, Spine
High: Having everything done and seeing the final product. The first rehearsal was amazing because until then we hadn’t seen how anything came together. It really reassured me that everything would be okay and that the collection would be amazing.
Low: Probably stressing at 8AM every morning, after I had stayed up all night and watched the sun rise and still was thinking about everything I had left to do. I haven’t slept much in the past week and it was a bummer to not be well rested for the show.
Hero: My hero would have to be my mom, who pulled all-nighters all week with me.
Jackie Wu, Indulge
High: I’ve so enjoyed working with my fellow designers in such a close environment, but the show itself is probably the high so it really hasn’t happened yet.
Low: The execution of my collection was pretty difficult—I pulled a lot of all-nighters and spent a lot of time and questioned myself and the direction I wanted a lot in the beginning.
Hero: Heroes would have to be Professor van Dyke, who helped me develop my concept, as well as the other designers in this process.
