How Fashionable

Saturday, April 8th Miami University Fashion and Design held their 11th annual fashion show. Including over 60 student models, 20 student designers, and a projected crowd of over 1,500 people, this is MUF&D’s biggest event of the school year. Unlike others years, this show included a trunk show to advertise local businesses and designers. This trunk show featured companies such as Leeli + Lou, Love Your Melon, Southern Tide and many more. Prior to entering the fashion show, three dresses made by students taking the Non-Textile Alternative Dress Design Course at Miami were on display in the entrance of Millet Hall, where the event was held.

Steele Fitzwater, the PR and Marketing Co-Director for MUF&D was kind enough to take three of our very own Tribune reporters backstage before the show to see where the models got their hair and makeup done. Each year students from the Aveda Fredric Institute in Cincinnati are responsible for both hair and makeup for the models. In an interview with Fitzwater he told us, “We try to match the model’s makeup as much as possible,” to create cohesion between the 23 different collections that were displayed on the runway. This year they went with thick blue and purple eyeliner on all of their models and used mainly pastel palettes. Fitzwater added that this bold look was apart of an effort to give MUF&D a new face.

Last year the organization went by the name MUCFD, Miami University Club of Fashion and Design. This year they took away the “club” and named this the “#Newera” of the organization. The organization as a whole has relabeled itself to have a more professional look. MUF&D is one of the largest student organizations at Miami with nearly 223 students and their annual fashion show is the largest student-led show in the nation!

These students have worked incredibly hard to create a new name for themselves they are approaching success at a rapid rate. They went from being a club, nearly a decade ago, to developing a fashion and design degree program at Miami University. After attending the event, the reporters here at the Tribune can tell you this; keep an eye on MUF&D because they’re going places. Not only do they have a passion for fashion; they’re an energetic group of students ready to make a difference in the people around them as well as the watching world.