Spectrum 2018 benefits all CSU Students

Hey Rammies! If you were at the CSU Fashion Show, Spectrum 2018 on Friday night, then you got to see the future of the fashion industry! From recycled military parachutes to evening gowns, this show had it all. The spotlights were pointed straight at the four designers who won awards for their designs, but every collection was jaw-dropping! If you haven’t heard already, you should know to keep an eye on the fab-four designers of the night! Sara Begley won Best Construction, Lauren Bruce-Lund won Most Marketable, Erica Quinones won Most Innovative, and Nicole Pink won Outstanding Designer!

Model Teagan Smith. Design by Nicole Pink. Photograph by K3 Images.

If you’re a common S.O. reader, then you know that the Fashion Show requires tireless effort to create. SO, what are the benefits of the Fashion Show other than a fabulous night of fashion?

All of the students involved in the Design and Merchandising Department get a first-hand real-life experience of what it’s like to design a collection, and produce a fashion show. All hands are on deck for this event, everyone, no matter their focus of study in the Department gains valuable experience from this show. The year of planning and organizing begins almost immediately after the previous show ends. A specific class within the department decides the theme and name for upcoming season’s show.

Each subsequent decision for the show includes heavy research from none other than the forecasting-google of fashion, WGSN. If you think a textbook is expensive, think again. A single subscription to WGSN for businesses in the industry costs over $30,000. Colorado State University has an educational subscription through the library proxy server. The cost to the university is over $7000, half is paid by the library the other half by income and fundraising from the CSU Fashion Show.

Now prepare to have your mind blown… the proceeds from the Fashion Show each year benefit every single student at CSU. How? They enable every student to have a subscription to WGSN at no cost to them. Business student? Use WGSN. Engineer? Physicist? You could probably use WGSN. It’s okay; I was a Physics major during my first year at CSU. Word around the block in Physics is that some people want to wear capes when doing research. WGSN has you covered. Health and Exercise Science? You could come up with a new style of sneaker that’s fashionable and supports everyone! Every major can benefit from this site. Open your mind to a little creativity! If you’re a Design and Merchandising major, this website is in your saved tabs on your laptop. WGSN is the primary source of research for forecasting what styles to look out for and gain inspiration from for the following fashion season and more importantly the next CSU Fashion Show. It is also probably the reason you got that new shirt that you’re obsessed with. Made.com, Fila, L’Oréal, and other large corporations benefit from using WGSN, and you can too! Give the website a browse with us while we eagerly await the next Fashion Show! For students to access WGSN, go through the colostate.edu to Libraries and to the A-Z database. Choose W and find WGSN. You will need to create a user account with your rams.colostate.edu email address and verify your name and account information. Then get ready to browse the global trends for three to four years in the future.

We spoke with Carol Engel-Enright, a professor in the Department of Design and Merchandising at CSU, about her reflection on this year’s show. The CSU Fashion Show Spectrum 2018 had 24 collections, the Design program selects only 25 students every year to enter the program through a portfolio process. Carol emphasized that “Each year is bigger and better than the last! All of the students involved in the show push themselves hard to make every show better than the last.” The professor described Spectrum 2018 as “spectacular!”, and is very excited for what’s ahead.