On Friday, Nov. 3, BarbieLand cast a spell on the Kiva Auditorium for the Fashion Student Organization’s Annual Art of Contrast Runway.

This year’s theme was Barbie, which is extremely relevant seeing as the recent trends, massive ticket sales and charting soundtrack have been all the buzz after the release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”. Jessica Duraj, the vice president, said, “We usually choose our themes when the school year starts, and our planning meetings begin, but this time we all talked about it when the movie came out. We all just loved the “Barbie” movie and someone texted our board group chat one night saying it could be a good theme for the fashion show, and we all instantly agreed! It’s probably the theme we’ve been most excited for!”

Doors opened at 6:30 p.m. and the show began at 7 p.m. When walking in the doors, a balloon arch was along the wall for photo-op use, along with tinsel hanging from the entrances to the auditorium itself. All shades of pink were reminiscent of the “Barbie” movie.

FSO has been on campus for a long time to help students gain experience. The Annual Art of Contrast Show was only one of them.

FSO was founded in 1983 and is the oldest and largest fashion group on campus. Their website highlights how FSO is helping students in the fashion industry. FSO’s mission statement is to, “Provide opportunities for students to get involved in special events to express their creativity in areas such as, but not limited to, design, styling, cosmetology, public relations, graphic design, social media and interior design.”

William Perrine, the faculty advisor of FSO, highlighted the amazing work of each individual student who had helped create the show. Eight board members contributed, along with many others who had helped design, model and style for the show.

The judges decided between 38 looks that would win the “Top Model” and “Best in Show” awards. The judges on the panel were Lynda Xepoleas, an assistant professor at the School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, Emma Coffeey, a student judge who is a member of the National Retail Federation Student Association and Maddie Holmes, a guest judge chosen through a raffle.

“Top Model” awards went to Maggie Walker and Nick Doerer. Walker was styled by Arabella Hammerich, and Doerer was styled by Mark Dunn. Hammerich’s two designs included one black and pink dress that had ruffles on the edges and another which had a transformative cape piece. Dunn’s look included cut-out hearts on both the top and the bottoms. Doerer and Walker made sure to hit every mark for their photos and give it their all.

Runner-up for “Best in Show” went to Melissa Arias, a freshman fashion design major. Her design included an off-the-shoulder shirt paired with a light pink high-low skirt. Both the skirt and the sleeves featured pink ruffles. The Fabric Pantry aided her in her designs with 3 rolls of ribbon she used to create the ruffles.

“Best in Show” went to Chloe Seely and Bennett Thyron. Seely, a freshman fashion merchandising student, said, “about five weeks ago I had the idea to do a Ski Barbie look but I found this difficult because I wanted to create something I didn’t have the ability to do yet. Meeting Bennett in class, we had the idea to do a Barbie and Ken look. He had the idea to do a “Weird Barbie” look, but I felt like it wasn’t my style or me at all. We decided to go back to Ski Barbie but do Winter Barbie instead. I’m so glad I got to work with Bennett because he was so flexible and easy to work with.”

Seely’s look included pink satin fabric for the dress with a bow attached to the back, and Bennett’s look included pink sheer fabric on his top to make the look cohesive. His look also included white fuzzy boots that matched Seely’s fuzzy white hat.

The prize for winning “Best in Show” was $50 to split between the two, and an FSO sticker.

The organization does have to have ample funding to put on events like the fashion shows and more. They also give back through the organization. Perrine mentioned the FSO Scholarship that has been going on since 2015. Each year two students are awarded a $500 scholarship—one for a design major and one for a merchandising major.

Caitlin Hall, the treasurer, said, “All of our money we make from the shows comes from ticket sales, as well as membership dues that members pay or they can pay for the semester. We also sell merchandise and go on a trip to New York City every year. All of that money goes right back into the organization to give us the funding to continue putting on shows.” The only thing directly funded by individual students are the looks they put together as designers or stylists.

The Annual Art of Contrast Show was one way for students to develop their skills in the industry. FSO provides many opportunities for students to grow with their experience and strives to help them achieve their goals.

If you want to get involved with FSO’s shows in the future you must be a member of the organization. Memberships are annual or semester-based, with a yearly rate of $20 or a semester rate of $15. You can reach out to their Instagram account: @fsokentstate to receive more information.

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Hi! I’m Annie Gleydura, A Magazine’s editor-in-chief. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.