Fashion and culture will fuse together to bring The Survivors: The Ultimate Fashion Experience to ETSU campus.
The fashion show is an annual event hosted by Black Affairs. This year the theme is The Survivors: The Ultimate Fashion Experience. The show will feature spring fashion from local retailers, like the Johnson City Mall, and will even showcase some designers from ETSU.
Aside from the different retailers, the show’s main focus is diversity–both in fashion and in the models wearing the looks. The clothes the audience sees will showcase many different cultures from Africa and everyday looks to Jamaican dance hall attire.
Tedra Bennett, an office assistant for Multicultural Affairs, said she hopes the audience sees the “similar threads” between the cultures and the looks.
Jimmy Young, the director of the show, said that there are 44 models involved in the production. These models range from ages 18 to 33 and represent many different backgrounds. The event will also showcase models of every size.
“What I really hope that [the audience] gets out of this is the diversity,” Young said.
Young also hopes that attendees realize how much hard work goes into a show of this scale. The event takes an entire semester to produce. Young brought people together from social media, advertising and hair and makeup to create the fashion show—it will even feature looks from a local cosmetology school.
Last year the event was a huge success. Multicultural Affairs expects to see around 500 people at the 2018 show.
“We come from different backgrounds and work together to make this show as big as what it is,” said Young. “It takes a lot to put on a show.”
The Survivors: The Ultimate Fashion Experience will be this Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center Ballroom. For more information, contact Tedra Bennett at ztab37@etsu.edu.
