LYDIA TURCIOS
Art Director
There’s clothes flying, accessories everywhere, body oil being passed around and the distant sound of speakers punching with cheering as the backdrop. The air is saturated with excitement and trepidation punctuated by the step of heels and sneakers on stage — we’re looking at a peek backstage of the annual Black Student Union’s Fashion show.
This year’s theme? The African Diaspora.
It’s a proud sight for the members of the Black Student Union’s (BSU) Fashion Show committee to look back on, as they have been involved with the annual event for several years each.
What does the Fashion Show mean for Fredonia’s Black students?
The creative and model director of the committee is a senior drawing and painting major, Jaivanni Henegan, who called the show tradition. The fashion show is how she became interested in coming to SUNY Fredonia in the first place. While attending multicultural weekend, Henegan appreciated the designers and models being themselves and embracing who they were.
“I feel nostalgic, in a way, and community oriented,” Henegan said, describing her personal feelings about the event. “Being able to be around people who look like me. Especially since we do go to a predominately white institution,” she added.
The vice president of the BSU Fashion Show committee is a junior child inclusive education and theatre performing arts double major. Her name is Christina Andrea Ramsey, and for her, the fashion show was an opportunity to stop feeling out of place. Having come to Fredonia unaware of how white the population of the campus and town was, she spent her first few months in the mindset of toning down her culture to appeal to the majority.
“The Fashion Show is definitely the essence of Blackness,” Ramsey said with a flourish. “I was happy to find it. We’re working together to better other people, and make sure other people are good.”
The Fashion Show chair, Crystal Robinson, is a senior English adolescence education major. She calls the event one big collective of the vibrance and boldness of the Black community on Fredonia’s campus. She says it is a little bit harder to express and see that sort of bold Blackness of the community on campus otherwise.
“It’s one big place where everyone can showcase that authentic, genuine, whatever it is that their Blackness means for them.” Robinson went on to call being on the committee surreal “because I know how much it means.” Many of Robinson’s friends had also attended Multicultural weekend prior to applying to colleges, and like Henegan, came to Fredonia because of the BSU Fashion Show.
Robinson’s goal, as well as the goals of Henegan and Ramsey, is to show that even when it feels that you’re alone when you’re in your classes or in your major, there is still a huge community of Black students who are there to support you.
What’s the planning process of a fashion show like?
“It’s a lot of communication and dedication,” according to Ramsey.
She went on to explain that you truly need the time for it — and the confidence. “You also have to be confident in what you’re doing. We’re working with the other students to model, and to model, the number one thing is confidence. I feel like if we start slacking, they might also start slacking.”
Hennegan added that since they’re leading by example, the most important thing is to keep track of people and their personalities. “It’s more so perfecting and refining,” said Hennegan, about helping the models. The end goal is to make sure everyone is more confident in what they’re doing and the way they do it.
“The scenes, especially, take so much time,” added Robinson. She explained that when coming up with ideas, they have to be ready to scrap, change and come up with new ones until something works. They also have to make sure that the advertising is locked down, that there’s food for the models on the day of and that the designers are contacted.
“It’s amazing how long it takes to send one email when you want to make sure you put enough detail but not too much detail. It’s a lot!” Robinson quipped.
What should be looked forward to the most, the day of the event?
Ramsey is looking forward to seeing the models walk. “There’s just this energy that comes over the models, and even us when we are walking.” She looks forward to seeing how everything comes together naturally.
The show is going to be captivating, intense and lively according to Hennegan. “It’s going to be fun.”
She also described the event as an opportunity to uplift each other, “Things just get so divided: Black women, Black men, Latino men and women. I think unity and just being there to support is the most important thing.”
They both agreed that the audience is going to be a big part of the energy.
“Pull up and look good!” The committee stresses to anyone planning to attend. “You gotta dress to impress.”
The BSU Fashion Show will be held in Steele Hall on March 27 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Keep an eye out for when tickets go on sale!