As part of a styling event hosted by Columbia à la Mode, a new group established by Columbia’s Fashion Association, three students created a window display at the 916 S. Wabash building comprised of outfits made of donated clothing.
Each mannequin at the newly relocated campus thrift shop expressed a different style – unique in composition and silhouette — that showcases The Rack’s offerings. The display will be up for another two weeks.
The window display was part of a Styling the Rack event at Columbia’s newly relocated thrift shop at 916 S. Wabash.
Columbia à la Mode invited students to participate in this first styling showcase, with more to come.
“We do have a couple planned in the spring,” said Galaxy Wolf, a sophomore fashion merchandising major and director of Columbia à La Mode. “More details will come out later on in April.”
“We’ve been hoping on trying to plan something,” said Wolf, a member of the Fashion Association who was elected director of the new group at the beginning of the school year.
The styling event was open to all students and is the first showcase hosted at the shop since its grand opening. “The overall goal of it is to just give student stylists that exposure and networking opportunity, as well as practice to style outfits,” she added.
The Rack, which reopened its doors on Feb. 5, is organized without gender in mind and fueled by student donation. The space aims at inviting students to explore their identity more thoroughly through clothing they may not have had access to before– whether it be gender affirming or something warm for the winner.
A few weeks before the debut, the three student stylists all applied via an Instagram post from the subcommittee requesting for stylists, and all came from backgrounds different in fashion– a foundational value to the club.
“Basically the first four people to contact us would be the selected stylist. There was no like, oh, ‘this person has more experience over the other’ or random draw. It’s just the first four,” said Wolf.
Each stylist crafted an outfit from the clothing donated to The Rack, as well as any pieces they have made on their own. The stylists were encouraged to bring business cards to discuss their out-of-school ventures at a launch earlier this month.
Sophomore fashion studies major Lorena Castro, previous winner of the Patagonia challenge, was excited to share some of that same ingenuity behind her upcycled puffer jacket dress. She used only materials found within the store.
“Since knowing that The Rack already has so much to offer, I wanted to see what we can do,” Castro said. “I was super excited just to get the opportunity to play with clothes.”
Due to a lack of handbags, Castro fashioned a hand bag out of a T-shirt and string, a theme carried throughout her look.
“I think the fun part of it is that they said to get creative and kind of go out of the box,” Castro said. “I’m super excited.” One styling tip she offers is to lean into comfortability, and versatility; a tip shared by many of the stylists.
First-year illustration major Jola Adebiyi, who has been a working stylist for almost a year now, employs both versatility and comfortability regularly when helping style others.
“I actually wore like a lace string that I had and I turned it into a tie… I turned it into all different kinds of things. I love to do that sort of thing,” said Adebiyi.
This proclivity for versatility was a trait shared by many of the stylists.
“You can just mix and match things until you get something that maybe you’ve never seen before, or just makes you just feel more happy than it would have served you as a shirt,” Adebiyi said.
After one of the stylists was unable to attend, Adebiyi stepped up to style two completed looks– one complete with a hat she designed herself.
Diana Lopez, a sophomore marketing major, who concluded the styling event, had styled a few shoots for her class before and never had gotten the opportunity to work on such a large scale before.
I love using things unconventionally,” Lopez said. “It’s not supposed to be used for that, but it is, and it looks good – so I kind of like that.”
Throughout the event students asked questions and helped the stylists create their outfits, all while shopping The Rack for their next inspired outfit.
“It’s a really inclusive space to kind of just walk in there however you are, whoever you are, however you want to present yourself, and potentially leave with something that makes you feel a little more like yourself,” Wolf said.
Wolf said that she thought the styling would be “a great kick off to something really wonderful.”
“Outside of the stylist that did respond to the call, we had other people that wanted to participate as well. So I’m very excited to give more students the opportunity to do so,” said Wolf.
Copy edited by Patience Hurston
Resumen en Español:
Columbia à la Mode organizó un evento de estilismo en The Rack, una tienda de segunda mano dirigida por estudiantes, donde tres estudiantes crearon exhibiciones únicas con ropa donada. El evento brindó a los estudiantes la oportunidad de mostrar su creatividad y ganar visibilidad, a la vez que promovía la autoexpresión a través de la moda.
Los estilistas, con diversos orígenes en el mundo de la moda, diseñan conjuntos con prendas de The Rack y sus propias creaciones. El evento destacó la versatilidad y la comodidad, y se planean más exhibiciones en primavera, brindando a los estudiantes un espacio inclusivo para explorar su estilo personal.
Resumen en Español por Manuel Nocera
Texto editado por Doreen Abril Albuerne Rodriguez
