High fashion takes a bow in Design Studies show

Since 1992, the design studies department in the School of Human Ecology has celebrated the work of its talented students with a juried year-end exhibition. Critiqued by established design professionals from varied backgrounds, the event offers both a chance for students to receive real-world feedback and an opportunity for members of the public to see the designers of tomorrow up close.

Design 2011 will be held as a special one-day installation at Monona Terrace, One John Nolen Drive, on Saturday, May 7. This year’s exhibit takes place alongside “la moda processa: foundation to innovation,” the undergraduate runway fashion show presented by the Textile and Apparel Students Association.

Throughout the academic year, students in textile, apparel, and interior design studio classes reserve their best projects for this exhibition, which typically includes a broad range of work from weaving samples, garments, color studies, sculpture and architectural models to computer-aided-design images and digital projections.

Martha Glowacki, gallery director of the James Watrous Gallery at the Overture Center for the Arts, will serve as juror for the textile and apparel design entries. Bill Beaudreau and Debra Alton, both local interior designers, will act as interior design jurors.

In addition, several design studies courses will provide special displays alongside la moda processa’s gallery. Projects from Structural Enrichment, Experimental Textile Design, Fashion Illustration, Sustainable Design, Fabric and Apparel Structures I, Advanced Graphic Design/Cloth to Clothing collaboration will be on display, as well as the results of the extracurricular Land’s End Outerwear Contest.

Illuminating the phases of design, la moda processa will dramatize innovative textiles and garments with the layering of interdisciplinary arts. Encompassing two back-to-back runway shows and a gallery, it showcases student designs created throughout the academic year, with works produced by both Interior Design and Textile and Apparel Design students. The show is made possible by a generous donation from Kohl’s.

The day’s schedule is as follows:

1 p.m.: Exhibit doors open for ticketholders to the 2 p.m. runway show.

2 p.m.: First runway show for la moda processa, followed by a light reception. Tickets to this show are $10 students/$15 general public.

3-4:30 p.m.: Exhibit viewable free of charge between runway shows.

6 p.m.: Exhibit doors open for ticketholders to 7 p.m. show.

7 p.m.: Second runway show for la moda processa, followed by a reception with cash bar. Tickets to this show are $10 students/$25 general public.

Tickets are available for purchase from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in Room B312 of Sterling Hall. Additionally, tickets are available online. Tickets purchased online previously will be available at Will Call up to one hour before each show. Please bring an ID upon pick up.

For more information on the exhibition, contact Design Gallery director Lisa Frank. For more information on la Moda Processa, visit online or contact Ariel Arnson.