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Y! MyWebfashioning careers
UC students prepare for high-pressure design
Related: Photos of area student's fashion designs | More fashion photos
Thursday, June 12, 2008
CINCINNATI — Armed with a walkie-talkie, Mary Wright directs the controlled chaos that is senior critique day at the University of Cincinnati's School of Design.
The petite adjunct instructor of sewing gently prods a busied Althea Harper to find a handful of MIA models.
A design by Althea Harper of Oakwood, a senior in the University of Cincinnati's prestigious fashion design program.
Harper and eight other Dayton area UC fashion design students will have their work presented as part of the university's annual College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) fashion show June 13 in Cincinnati. Pictured the final piece in the collection called' The Raven.'"They (a panel of critics) are waiting for you downstairs," she tells Harper, who is surrounded on all sides by thin, beautiful young people.
Finding the missing models is just one task the graduating 23-year-old UC senior from Oakwood has to complete on this day, May 30.
The models need their hair and makeup finished before Harper's appointment with a panel of fashion experts for her final critique as a student in the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.
Oh, and the models have to be zipped, hooked and even sewn into the flowing, fanciful European silks, leather-like wool and black feathers Harper spent sleepless nights constructing into gowns, pants and suits.
The looks build up to the final outfit, the evolved raven, she'll tell the critique panel.
In a fitted gray dress, Harper buzzes back and forth from a makeshift makeup room to the studio where a growing number of models gather.
She brushes the models' hair, dresses them and is asked what must seem like a thousand questions.
"I have 12 models, so I am like going insane," she says. The stress is apparent, but so is Harper's confidence and drive.
Twelve designs are ambitious, school officials say, but Harper handles the pressure without even a tiny yelp.
It isn't "Project Runway," but Harper's work will be scrutinized.
The statuesque woman in the 4-inch, peep-toed pumps wants more than a passing grade. She is well into preparation for "life after UC" in the competitive world of fashion.
Mere hours after her critique is done, Harper will host a self-organized runway show at a swanky night club. Twelve models will slink across the club's bar in outfits from Harper's dramatic collection "The Raven."
Harper is one of 29 students who will graduate from the fashion design school this year.
Their work will be showcased with that of other fashion design students — nine from the Dayton area — during the college's runway show at 8 p.m. Friday, June 13, in the university's Campus Recreation Center. A live Web cast of the sold-out show will appear at www.daap.uc.edu/daapworks. Not everything valuable is learned in the classroom and big internships at big-name design houses can get you in the door, Harper says.
The bright-eyed blonde has worked with noted designers, including Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, to fulfill the fashion school's famed co-operative education requirements.
She's building her portfolio with the help of a photographer and knows she may have to struggle to get the job she wants. She's already been working it.
"I haven't gone out and I haven't really slept for the last six months. You have to work hard and it will pay off," she says. "I have to go to New York and show up at doors with my portfolio."
In the end, Harper receives mostly accolades from the critique panel. One judge says many of the outfits look expensive.
Another calls them candidates for the MTV Music Video Awards.
About a third of Harper's classmates already have jobs lined up.
Many, like Amy Longo of Oakwood, will move off to a great big city — New York, Los Angeles, London — ready to continue fashion careers started while students.
Longo, 22, created a bright and bold, fashion-forward "Alice in Wonderland"-inspired collection for her final project.
It wasn't easy transforming fabric into fun, flirty and feminine representatives of Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, the Caterpillar and the White Rabbit.
"I slept in this chair," says Longo, the only other Dayton-area graduating senior. "The whole quarter I've been living in the room."
But Longo, who has already worked for designer Betsey Johnson, Macy Merchandising Group, Aeropostale and others, is excited about showing the world what she can do and living the life success in fashion could afford her.
It's already been good to her.
"I get to buy fun shoes. I get to go to New York. I get to go to Paris. I get to go to (all sorts of) fun places," the lifelong artist says.
Longo and Harper are at the end of their formal education.
Sophomores Emily Rodgers of Oakwood and Christine Devitt of Beavercreek are still getting their feet wet. Red dresses they completed for a class project will be in the fashion show. Both are optimistic about what the future holds.
"I think a lot of people are frightened to go into something like this," Rodger says. "I say go for it. It's fun."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
