Fashion’s Conscience is currently hosting ‘Fashion Week 2010,’ a week of modeling, fashion shows and fashion-related forums on campus, with a merged Willy Wonka and Cirque du Soleil theme. Fashion’s Conscience is a student organization devoted to recognizing the contributions of minorities in the fashion industry.

 

The week kicked off Monday afternoon with a fashion show in the Schine Student Center. It will end Saturday in Goldstein Auditorium with a show titled ‘Fashionably Aware’ and a performance by rapper Fabolous.

 

‘We’re really excited about Saturday night,’ said Ayoni Warburton, a senior fashion design major and president of Fashion’s Conscience. ‘People may come more for Fabolous than for the fashion show, but those people are definitely in for a pleasant surprise.’

This semester’s Fashion Week took more time and energy to plan, Warburton said.

‘Connecting with designers, promoting the shows, distributing fliers, transporting designers’ pieces to Syracuse — it’s a lot of work,’ Warburton said. The group also focused more on networking within the industry to establish connections for this and future Fashion Weeks.

 

The goal of this year’s Fashion Week is to make the SU community more aware of Fashion Conscience’s presence, Warburton said. All of the models in the fashion shows are SU students. The clothes they model come from SU students and designers across the country both near and far. Today’s show will feature garments from Some Girls Boutique on Marshall Street.

 

‘We really want to showcase pieces from designers who might not have many opportunities to get their names out there,’ Warburton said.

 

Today’s show will start at 7 p.m. in Schine. Thursday’s show, titled ‘Fashionizing,’ will be held at 6 p.m. in Schine 304, and Friday’s fashion show by students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts will start at 7 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium. 

 

At the beginning of the week, the fashion shows featured a bright and comical Willy Wonka style. Toward the end of the week, the designs and makeup will become progressively darker and more infused with Cirque du Soleil elements, especially on Saturday, Warburton said.

 

Monday’s fashion show, which was moved from the Quad to Schine due to rainy weather, generated buzz among students. 

 

‘We had styled models standing in Schine holding fliers promoting Fashion’s Conscience, and people kept coming up to the models to ask about it,’ said Shatara Miller, the vice president of Fashion’s Conscience and a senior retail management and marketing major. 

 

Although the organization held Fashion Week last semester, it hosted fewer shows and the events did not lead up to a sizeable finale. 

 

‘Last year the crowd we saw at Fashion Week was big enough, but this year we decided to host more shows and a culminating event to get more of the industry involved,’ Miller said. ‘This semester’s Fashion Week allows us to embrace more of the campus.’

 

Although most of the week is dedicated to fashion shows, the group also hosted a forum Tuesday, titled ‘She Was Asking for It.’ The goal of the forum was to open a dialogue about how clothing choice can influence sexual violence because those issues are important, Miller said.

 

Fashion’s Conscience hopes to continue hosting Fashion Week and expanding it every year, said Terry Kezoh, a sophomore public health major and member of the organization.

 

‘The most exciting part for me is to see other people getting excited about our events,’ Kezoh said. ‘The theme this semester is something really different, and it’s fun to see people anticipating our shows.’