The 2011 Purdue Fashion Show

This past Saturday was the annual Purdue Fashion Show. Between the afternoon and evening shows, attendance was nearly 2,000! It was two hours of gorgeous models and gorgeous fashion. Best of all, as a senior I got to have a portion of the show dedicated to my very own collection. I showed nine outfits that I have been designing and producing since last July. There was so much work and anticipation leading up to April 2nd, but now that it's over I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. My collection, "Stay with me, go places." was inspired largely by my heritage in the Midwest and by items relating to the history of everything I love about this land. My fabrics included eco-knits made of hemp, soy and organic cotton along with leather, denim, linen and cotton twills. I worked these awesome textiles into simple, comfortable silhouettes with lots of fun detailing. T-shirts were silkscreened with topographic prints or illustrated with field guide images and all of the models were decked out in vintage boyscout and camping equipment. (More pictures on my website, Base14.com) I intended for this body of work to be a statement about this particular time in my life- the visible intersection between where I have been and the path I am about to take. -Alysha Kupferer