โThe Future of Fashion,โ the annual end-of-semester showcase by the UTRGV House of Fashion Club, explores the past, present and future all with the central theme of sustainability.
In collaboration with the Edinburg Cultural Arts division, the fashion show starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library as part of the Dรญa de los Niรฑos, Dรญa de los Libros festival. Admission is free.
HOF is a student-based collective of art, fashion, music and culture for which student leaders organize fashion shows at the end of every semester, according to its website. The club regularly holds thrift sales on campus.
Maria Regina Montemayor, a business administration senior and HOF president, told The Rider the whole concept of โThe Future of Fashionโ show is about sustainability.
โWe want to raise awareness for slow fashion and more sustainable fashion practices,โ Montemayor said. โWe believe that you โฆ can have a lot of self-expression while still being very conscious about the planet. You donโt necessarily have to buy the trendiest, newest thing all the time.โ
The fashion show is separated into three phases: the past, present and future. Each phase has outfits that depict what the future might look like to people during that time period.
โIf you go back in time and if you were to have this conversation with somebody that was raised in the โ60s, and you ask them, โHey, what does the future look like to you?โ Theyโre probably going to say, โI see flying cars; I see innovative homes and robots and AI and PVC dresses,โโ Montemayor said. โโฆ If you time travel to our present and โฆ you ask your friends, โHey, what does the future look like to you?โ [Theyโre] probably gonna say, โOh, it looks scary. It looks post-apocalyptic. It looks like gas masks and chemical spills and war and famine.โโ
She said the present phase of the fashion show is more about what people can do today to help tomorrow.
โWeโre going to have our fashion designers bring out some models with designs that they have created out of unconventional materials,โ Montemayor said. โSo, thereโs this one dress thatโs made out of bottle caps. Thereโs another one thatโs made out of, like, smashed metal. Just, like, all these recycled materials to create these really cool reworked outfits, which is kind of where weโre at today.โ
The show has 37 people helping and more than 20 models will be featured. Most of the models have an outfit in the three phases.
English junior and HOF creative director Zaiah Treviรฑo told The Rider he is excited to show audience members the outfits, theme of the fashion show and also the message that it conveys.
โItโs not only about the clothes and the fashion โฆ but itโs also about the message weโre trying to, like, put across about sustainability,โ Treviรฑo said.
Describing the past phase of the fashion show as nostalgic, vintage and colorful and the future phase as melodramatic and neutral colored, Treviรฑo said his favorite is the present phase since he has two outfits featured in it.
Treviรฑo said one of the outfits he designed pulls inspiration from the Disney Channel show โWizards of Waverly Place.โ
โThe comic book dress that [Selena Gomez] wears, well, Iโm doing, like, an interpretation of that but, like, with Vogue magazines,โ he said.
Joel Angel Garza, a civil engineering junior and model in โThe Future of Fashion,โ is participating in two phases, the past and the future.
โI think [the fashion show] will be fantastic,โ Garza said. โEveryone [in HOF] has been putting in so much hard work โฆ and I can tell that the people putting it together are very dedicated.โ
Taking part in the show for the first time, Garza said he thinks diversifying his experiences is great for growing as a person and encourages students from all kinds of disciplines to do so as well.
โA lot of people think that engineers are unstylish or not good in the arts,โ he said. โBut I want to change that point of view, and [show] that engineers can be stylish and they can be well-invested in the arts.โ
For updates on the fashion show or the club, follow its Instagram @utrgvhof.
