Allen addressed a full crowd in the 1104 S. Wabash Ave. Building as part of the three-part series, which invites speakers three times a year who relate to the college’s three schools. Allen was invited in honor of the School of the Fine and Performing Arts.

In this highlight video, Allen shares her story of discrimination as a black dancer, her experiences in producing the film “Amistad” and advice for Columbia students.

Helicopter sound effects, operatic scales and the strumming of a harp underlined A$AP Rocky’s cracked voice as he opened his Oct. 11 show in the dimmed Congress Theater, telling the audience, “Welcome to my world.”

Rocky appeared onstage 56 minutes after his scheduled set time. Donning a bright orange ski mask, he greeted the rowdy crowd apologetically.

“We started late due to some technical difficulties … but I’m here nonetheless, so get ready for a crazy show.”

Crazy may have been an understatement. By the end of the show, Rocky’s rap collective, A$AP Mob, was recklessly leaping around the venue while security chased audience members around as if they were working a poorly run day care.

A$AP Rocky, who hails from New York, refers to himself most often as “that Pretty Mother F—-r,” and raps that the “only thing bigger than my ego is my mirror,” in his single “Wassup.” But Rocky has justifiable success to back up such confidence. With a $3 million record deal with RCA Records and continual radio airplay after the success of his pioneering mixtape, “LongLiveA$AP,” he proves to be one of the most successful members of his collective. He performed at this summer’s Pitchfork Music Festival, appeared as a guest rapper during Rihanna’s performance of her hit single “Cockiness (Love it)” at MTV’s Video Music Awards and was nominated for six BET awards, including “Best New Artist.” His first studio album, “LiveLoveA$AP,” is set to drop Oct. 31.

Though transfixing productions make him one of today’s most prominent hip-hop innovators, his raps are mainly about women, weed or women with weed. That said, A$AP’s concept for the LongLiveA$AP tour may have been overreaching. The stage backdrop displayed the famous World War II photograph “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” except the flag was both upside down and black and white.

“The flags represent the battle,” A$AP said in between songs, as if to justify a school art project. “A battle because we’re misunderstood … but we ain’t fighting this battle alone!”

Throughout their set, the A$AP Mob waved a physical representation of the black and white flag as they needlessly skipped around the stage. Rocky didn’t fully connect with the audience at times and became distracted when the A$AP Mob joined him onstage.

Alternative rappers Danny Brown and ScHoolboy Q were the rousing opening acts. Although the three artists vary greatly in hip-hop style, the mixture of different performance types showed that new-generation rap has a bright future.

Brown, a whimsical up-and-comer from Detroit, began his segment—which proved to be the night’s best set—as the crowd was filing in. He played tracks from his most popular album “XXX,” which was named 2011’s “Best Hip-Hop Album Of The Year” by SPIN magazine. The early evening’s energy was pumped up by the crowd pleasers “Blunt After Blunt” and “Bruiser Brigade.” However, the venue’s poor sound mixing completely undermined some of Brown’s signature techno production and gritty, futuristic additives.

Brown’s enthusiastic stage presence kept the audience fully engaged despite the lo-fi sound. His large tongue pushed through a toothless grin, hanging on his chin in between verses while his lanky arms flailed around raucously. Brown’s goofy face paired with his asymmetrical perm kept the audience cheering while he boasted about his looks in “The Black Brad Pitt.”

ScHoolboy Q followed Brown, and although his music is more introspective, he played upbeat crowd pleasers such as “Nightmare on Figg St.” and “There He Go.” Though equally as captivating as Brown, ScHoolboy Q kept obnoxiously interrupting the flow of his set by sitting down for intermittent chats with his disc jockey after each song to ask the audience what he should play next or how well he was performing.

Rocky’s performance was most enticing once his Mob left the stage. He performed a few tracks from his acclaimed “LiveLoveA$AP.” “Wassup,” “Purple Swag” and the best performance in his set, “Brand New Guy” with ScHoolboy Q, established his solo talent despite a set cut short by the venue’s 10 p.m. curfew.

As rowdy as they may be A$AP Mob ensured a peaceful show. Immediately after egging the crowd on with their famous track “Coke and White Bitches,” the lights went dim as A$AP asked the audience to pray. The Mob then gawkishly clarified they love “all types of bitches, no matter if you white, black or purple.” Bizarrely enough, the crowd appreciated the group’s attempt to mix equal parts hipster and hood fans.

The annual extravaganza, staged for the first time at the Media Production Center, 1600 S. State St., was held in honor of Eunice W. Johnson, a fashion pioneer who co-founded Ebony Magazine with her husband in 1942. She created a travelling fashion show in 1958, the Ebony Fashion Fair, which brought haute-couture aimed at mostly African-American women to hundreds of cities across the country. The proceeds from Fashion Columbia will fund the newly established Eunice W. Johnson Scholarship in Fashion Studies.

Desiree Rogers, former White House social secretary and current C.E.O of Johnson Publishing Company, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines, hosted the event.

“Eunice really believed in the democracy of fashion,” Rogers said. “She brought the highest level of fashion to the smallest jurisdictions of the country. So it’s an honor to celebrate those students who are recipients of the Eunice Johnson Scholarship, who are making their way and bringing their change to the fashion industry.”

Rogers offered words of advice to students and recent graduates, telling them to stay authentic to themselves and not let anyone make them think they are incapable of something. Most importantly, if they can help other people along the way as Eunice did, they will find happiness and fulfillment, she said.

“It is near and dear to me to be a part of this and to be able to be here to salute these incredible students,” Rogers said. “ This inaugural event is for scholarships that go to sophomores, juniors and seniors so that they can pursue their studies and become the next—I don’t know—but that’s what is so exciting. You’ve seen it here first. “

Previously, the event had been held in various formats and venues, according to President Warrick Carter. For the past few years it was a luncheon held in off-campus locations. This year, Carter said he was excited to bring the crowd to the Media Production Center.

He added that, because the facility is likely the largest of its kind out of all colleges and universities in the country, the Media Production Center was perfect for the fashion event.

“One of the most exciting things for me, as president of the college, is to be able to share with you the quality of the work of our students,” Carter said. “And I’m like a proud papa, because they rock.”

The show began with the dark, architectural designs of 2012 graduate Cynthia Roman, who was also the winner of the Chicago History Museum’s FashioNext competition in 2011. Her current pieces showcased alligator skin textures, luxurious furs and black and deep green colors.

Another award-winning student was Kendra DeKuiper, who recently won the Driehaus Award for Fashion Excellence. She said the book “Stranger,” by Albert Camus, inspired her collection, called “New Beginnings.” Flowing down the runway were gauzy white and light green dresses, some with flower stem prints, others with butterflies. Some models sported handmade yarn shawls in brown and green.

“I was really affected by the ideas of existentialism, human growth and always trying to better yourself,” DeKuiper said. “I took those ideas and paired it with metamorphosis and created pieces inspired by the juxtaposition between human growth and the experience that animals go through.”

The only menswear design seen on the runway was by Pedro Larios, who just graduated from Columbia, earning his second fashion degree. In his home country, Mexico, he received a degree in haute couture and women’s clothing.

His designs were all black with billows and folds of fabric in non-traditional places for men, such as the legs or on the chest.

“My main concept was redefining the male body,” Larios said. “I wanted to create something that was interesting for men, but not so far as to alienate [anyone.]”

That night, the Alumni Achievement in Fashion Design was awarded to Lana Bramlette, who has found major success in the fashion industry with her iconic hoop earring designs.

Bramlette, a 1997 graduate, was named “One to Watch” by Lucky Magazine and hailed as the woman to watch by Crain’s Chicago Business. Her jewelry is sold in 300 stores worldwide, with prices ranging from $210 for a ring to $2,665 for a pair of earrings. Some 150,000 pairs of her earrings have been sold as of this year. Among her clients are some of the biggest names on the A-list, including Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Eva Longoria.

Commenting on what she had seen at the show, Bramlette said that the talent was evident, and though fashion can sometimes be overplayed or overdone, it was not the case that evening. Most of all, she was happy to see such creativity in Chicago.

“I want to tell students that you don’t have to go to LA or New York,” Bramlette said. “You can do it here. If you have talent, which you do, and you have the work ethic that comes along with living in Chicago, you will go very far.”