By Peri Kinder | [email protected]

After a COVID hiatus, the Salt Lake Community College Fashion Institute Fashion Show has returned. The show was put on by students graduating from the only college-level fashion program in Utah. Many SLCC fashion graduates have gone on to prestigious design schools, eventually landing jobs with companies like Ralph Lauren and Guess Kids.

“Our program is extremely rigorous and students have a long journey in order to get to where they want to be,” said Mojdeh Sakaki, SLCC Fashion Institute program manager. “We're a huge family. It takes a village for the students to be where they are right now.”

The fashion show was held May 2, in partnership with Utah Arts Alliance which provided The Shops at South Town as a venue. The mall will display fashion designs from the show’s designers in its store windows.

Students in the fashion show production class collaborated with the fashion students to organize the event, set up the room, choose the music and do all the work behind the scenes. Professional models presented original designs created by students in their final year in the fashion program. Collections included costumes, streetwear, office attire, cosplay and ready-to-wear items.

Designers in the school’s collection class created their own concepts, developed ideas, illustrated design boards, gathered fabrics, made patterns and sewed the items.

Taylorsville native Aurelia Jones presented her fanciful collection based on nature and fairies, complete with iridescent wings and floral colors. Jones will graduate from the fashion program this spring and hopes to work as a seamstress for local theater companies.

“I’m the youngest of six kids and all of them did theater,” Jones said. “My mom would help make all the costumes. I went everywhere with her and I loved it.”

Jones said creating her collection was time-consuming. She went through the process of creating mood boards to find inspiration.

“I’ve always loved the mountains, and I wanted to do something related to nature. But I didn’t want to do regular fashion. I thought it would be so much fun to make fairies come to life.”

 

 

Other designers showcasing their collections were Hope Ainsworth, Jade Joyo, Shreya Parihar, Debra (Niky) Phipps and Alicia Scott. During the event, visual displays were set up around the event space to highlight different fashion specialties including evening gowns, tailoring and bridals.

“Right now, we have this opportunity to really step back and consider how we want to re-approach style and design,” says Sakaki, noting that more than 90% of the retail industry shut down during the pandemic.

The SLCC Fashion Institute offers three degrees: fashion design, visual merchandising and technical apparel designs. The courses were created to help students interested in fashion-related careers. Many of the school’s graduates take jobs as seamstresses, pattern makers, merchandisers and illustrators.

“There have been a lot of changes. Suits are gone. Comfort and leisure are booming. And new 3D printing technology is introducing new types of fabrics and patterns,” Sakaki said. “It is an exciting time to be in fashion.”