Chicago, IL-- Chicago's next generation of fashion designers will showcase their work at Columbia College Chicago's Fashion Columbia 2005, an annual student-produced fashion show held each spring. As one of the most celebrated and highly anticipated events at Columbia, this year's program has been expanded and will now offer a total of four shows.
The fashion show, will take place on Thursday, April 21 and Friday, April 22 at 6 and 8 p.m., each evening at The Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue. Tickets are $60 for general admission and $35 for students with a valid student identification. A cocktail and hors d' oeuvre reception will be held at 1104 S. Wabash Avenue from 7:30 to 10 p.m. following each show. To purchase tickets call Ticket Web, 866.468.3401 or visit www.ticketweb.com.
Each year Columbia College fashion design and fashion retail management students join forces to showcase the talents of both disciplines. The shows feature garments designed, patterned and constructed by fashion design majors. Event production is entirely developed and managed by fashion retail management majors enrolled in the Advanced Fashion Show Production class taught by Nena Ivon, manager, public relations, special events/fashion for Saks Fifth Avenue. These students are responsible for picking a theme, the program and invitation design, selecting professional models from top agencies such as Elite and Ford, contracting with hair and make-up artists, and arranging the music and stage production.
"Fashion Columbia is an opportunity for up and coming designers to connect with fashion industry professionals and share their work with fellow students, faculty and local fashionistas," said Kristin Body a senior fashion design major from Crete, Illinois who is participating in Fashion Columbia for the second time.
"Fashion Columbia has grown from a small exhibition of student work to a major fashion force in city," says Nena Ivon. "The students take their responsibility very seriously. The higher we raise the bar, the better they produce both in quality of design and production. The end result is an event that has evolved into something new and fresh each year."
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Through the diversity of its students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and multiplicity of voices to American culture. For further information visit www.colum.edu.