SIU Fashion Design program gets creative for senior project - WSIL TV

CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- For SIU fashion school graduates, the April Student Showcase and Runway Fashion Show is the time to present collections they've worked on all year.

But due to Covid-19, they've had to navigate through some changes. From sewing to sketching, SIU's Fashion Design and Merchandising program is no stranger to Covid-19's impact.

Program Director Laura Kidd says she started with changing the amount of required garments.

"I reduced it from a minimum of eight to four and then I'm going to have them all come up with photo shoots, where they can source their own models or use some other ways of display with the background and everything. A lot like how you see in fashion magazines," she said.

Last semester was completely virtual. Paige Gower says she and her four other classmates had to overcome adjustments to complete their projects.

"After doing everything online for you know, a little over a year, it was kind of odd. So, it's kind of challenging to just get back in the swing of things and remember how things work in studio, but I would say it's pretty comfortable once you get in and sit down, it comes back pretty fast," she said.

Each student has designed a clothing line inspired by things that have impacted their lives.

"Each of the pieces that I did for this collection are inspired by different Barbie dolls throughout the years. Barbie's been around for over 60 years. So I've got one piece that one of my models is going to model based on the very first doll, one of them is based on the 60s," said Rana Schenke.

Although they can't have the runway show this year Kidd says the photo shoots will help their futures.

"They can use that for online portfolios, job applications, put it on websites, all on their social media pages and stuff and get more exposure that way," she said.

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