Homecoming fashion show fuses creativity, culture and community
An En’Rage model poses in a postmodern denim look by the brand Ikonic Parlay for the future section of the BSU Late Night Fashion Show on Oct. 17. (Lauren Smith/The Black Explosion)
Members of the En’Rage modeling team traveled through time during the Late Night Homecoming Fashion Show on Oct. 17.
The event, sponsored by the Black Student Union, moved through three acts: past, present and future, honoring the evolution of fashion.
The past was represented by low-rise jeans, cropped tees and other characteristics of the Y2K aesthetic, while the present section displayed current trends and silhouettes, such as baggy jeans, dark color palettes, tote bags and graphic designs.
The future section focused on where we could take our fashion. Unique tailoring and bold maximist patterns, prints and silhouettes closed the imaginative final act.
All three sections showcased the work of students, who crafted the performance from the runway to the styling and even the clothing, much of it from student brands.
“People can actually go up to the booths and purchase things that they’re seeing us model on the runway,” Samantha Balaba, President of En’Rage, said.
Balaba has modeled for 7 years. She joined En’Rage as a freshman after seeing them on campus. Her affinity for performing drew her to the team but Balaba finds that the community shines the brightest.
“We have a very tight-knit team, even with our new members. So it’s been nice, kind of feeling like there’s a home away from home,” Balaba said. “You want to find that place where you can be yourself, a creative outlet.”
En’Rage is the only modeling team on campus, and while they have performed in the past for homecoming, the Late Night Fashion Show was their first official collaboration with the BSU.
According to Trinity Smith, a member of the BSU executive board, the organization gave En’Rage creative control of the event.
“We wanted to give them free rein so they could have their artistic expression, have the message they wanted to put out there with their fashions and the energy they bring to the stage,” said Smith.
Smith also said that the BSU was pleased with how students were engaging with and enjoying homecoming events like the fashion show.
The show even brought students from other campuses. After En’Rage posted the opportunity, Brooke Nixon, a Towson student, said she was contacted and asked to be a vendor.
“I saw it as an opportunity that just flowed to me,” said Nixon. “Things that are for you will always be for you ... it was an amazing experience. I'm glad I came.”
Nixon’s brand, Money Magnet Movement, is all about attracting opportunities through innate strengths and talents. The show, in her opinion, was a celebration of this creative entrepreneurial spirit.
“The models on stage are also designers themselves, so you’re able to see an artist on its fullest scale,” said Nixon. “The styling, all of it put together, it creates life through clothes, through art and it’s fully from the students, so it’s directly from the source, and it’s full of culture.”