MENOMONIE, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) - The final showcase for UW-Stout seniors studying Apparel Design and Development looked much different this year than others in the past.

Senior Cambria Sinclair is the show director for WEAR, a club on campus that design students often join to showcase their work at the end of the year.  

“What I normally do is get a space and coordinate lighting and put the whole thing together, but that did not happen this year,” Cambria says.  “So, it was a bit of a quick turnaround to figure out how can we still have a show to present students’ work.”

Each senior graduating with this degree must show their work at the end of the year.  The fashion show through WEAR is a campus-wide event, where students families are invited to attend as well.  Due to COVID 19 and the closing of all college campuses nationwide, students had to get creative this year.

All 21 seniors created a video of their work, which Cambria compiled into a 38-minute and a 55-minute virtual fashion show.  

Design students had to adapt quickly, with most of their clothing models being UW-Stout students as well.  Most had to find new clothing models and alter their original garments to fit new body types.

“Knowing I wasn’t going to be able to see my models, I used my sister and she’s 13. My collection was a women’s wear, so it was tricky to play with her body,” says Angel Yang. “You can’t tell in one of the photos, but in the front I had to pull the whole dress together so it looked like it fit her.”

Angel is WEAR's president. 

Professor Jongeun Rhee is the interim program director for Apparel Design and Development.  Rhee said she is proud of how her students adapted.

“No one really complained, at least not to me,” she says. “They quickly adapted and found a way to solve these problems they had and did their best and worked very hard.”

Each students came up with a theme for their clothing design. Angel’s inspiration was the ocean, as she recently experienced it for the first time.

Cambria’s inspiration is two-fold. She says it's based off of her Scottish heritage and is dedicated to her father who died two years ago.

To view the virtual showcase, click here and access the UW-Stout Apparel Instagram page, click here.