“Super Six” share spotlight at May 12 fashion show

Student planners highlight the business and logistics of the fashion industry

This year’s fashion show production team, which plans every detail for the CREO fashion show, is unusually small, consisting of only six students. Yet they are doing the heavy lifting of reframing the show to reveal what takes place behind the scenes.

The group is leveraging Milwaukee’s fashion influencers, actively engaging in producing behind-the-scenes social media content and creating displays of their fashion merchandising projects. Because this isn’t as flashy as what’s taking place on the runway, this work is often left unsung.

“We call them the ‘Super Six’ because they are incredibly savvy and understand the worth that their expertise brings to the process,” said Ashley Brooks, chair of the fashion department who is also one of the co-instructors for the semester-long fashion show production class. The students oversee staging, coordinate and coach models, catalog the work of dozens of designers, determine site logistics and much more. The class is designed for the planning process to replicate the work that takes place in the industry itself.

Relegating the production work to the backstage is unfortunate, said Trish Kuehnl, program director for the fashion merchandising program.

“When their work stays behind the scenes, youth with an interest in fashion are unaware of the many career options available to them in merchandise management,” Kuehnl said. “These students understand they have a skill set that they need to show the world.”

The six plan to post the store plans they created for a merchandising class, in which they drafted CAD design layouts, conducted demographic consumer research and drew up budget proposals for a boutique, gallery or store. They also will showcase the real-world visual merchandising and trend forecasting work they’ve done through internships or employment.

The six planners created the show’s theme, “Supernova.” It will take place at 1, 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 12, in the Alumnae Dining Room of Bergstrom Hall on the Mount Mary campus.

The 7:30 p.m. show will be followed by the senior showcase, an opportunity to meet the fashion show planning team, the senior designers and get an up-close view of the senior-designed garments.

For tickets and more information about the student designer fashion show, click here.