A Spectacle of Restrictive Fashion – The Cornell Daily Sun

It’s less than an hour before doors open for Cornell Fashion Collective’s first show of the 2024-2025 academic year. Models backstage are delicately shoving chocolate Ferrero Rochers into their mouths, careful not to smudge their makeup. Designers are on their knees correcting their hems, sewing on ruffles and even drawing on their models’ skin. There is a quiet lull in which you can sense the animation in each and everyone’s actions. Though stressed, the aura is excited, even anticipatory. Designers and models alike scurry around in a sea of black, worn by CFC members, and erratic flashes of color when models venture out from backstage. Models ask each other if they think their poses will display the idea of the clothing, hoping to imitate, morph and become one with the pieces. 

At exactly 5:40 p.m., the voice of Julia Roos ’25 reverberates around Willard Straight Hall, alerting designers and models that the walkthrough will commence. A hush falls on the room, the musicians take up their instruments and the walk through begins. 

The models step up one by one and flow down the S shaped runway, posing under the designated spotlights. Each model embodies a different experience while walking down their paths. The walkthrough finishes at 6:10 p.m. with a series of small mishaps. Susanna Burr ’27, Runway Director for CFC, commands the attention of the models and clears up the last couple of issues before the show begins; walking through the exact places to pose, where to look and how to emphasize the designer’s inspiration for the clothes. At exactly 6:30 p.m., all models and designers are ushered into the backstage area where they are told to be silent. The first stream of onlookers enter and an eagerness for the night begins to settle around the room. More and more well dressed students and adults spill into the building, the line for the ticket stand goes all the way out the door. People glide into the hall, finding themselves the best possible seat. At 7:25 p.m., an awaiting silence coates the room, introducing a buzzing energy that fills the space.