Student Designs Debut for 2003 Fashion Show

The competitive fashion world is constantly changing, introducing new trends to the scene every season. This spring 15 Utah State University students are bringing their own line of clothing to the forefront of the local fashion scene, combining music and style for the 2003 "Fashion Out Loud" show.


The show is March 28 in the USU Sunburst Lounge and is sponsored by the Utah State Fashion Association, a club in the apparel & textiles major of the College of Business. Both showings, held at 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., are free to students and the community. The clothing included this year is designed and assembled entirely by students, as opposed to past years where there was a mixture of student-designed clothing and clothing borrowed from various retail stores.

"Each designer completes about 6-10 outfits," said Sharielle Sessions, a student designer involved with the event. "The entire show revolves around music, so you will hear everything from Frank Sinatra to techno."

The theme for the show, incorporating the influence of music on fashion, is made apparent through 12 unique, student-designed sets. Each set coincides with different genres of music and gives the students a chance to display their visual merchandising skills.

The fashion show coordinators have put in extra work to get donations and found ways to cut costs.

"All the students, whether they are designers or not, have put in countless hours to make this happen," said Nicole Nielson, academic advisor for all apparel & textiles students. "A lot more work goes into the show than people realize. Students are grouped into committees such as set, lighting, models, public relations, design and merchandising, and every student plays an important role in the production of the show."

The time and effort students put into the show pays off. They get experience in event planning on top of designing sets and clothing, Nielsen said.

"As a graduate of Utah State fashion merchandising and design, I understand what an educational experience the fashion show is to students," said Nielson. "It provides a chance for students to get hands-on experience they could never learn from a book."

For more information on the fashion show, contact Jeanine Owen at jowen@cc.usu.edu.


Contacts: Jeanine Owen, (435) 881-5705
Nicole Nielson, (435) 797-3408
Writer: Miaken Christensen, (435) 797-1350
Photos taken at last year's fashion show (2002)