A runway lit by green LEDs glowed in the dark room, reflecting on the faces of anticipating students sitting in the front row. A model strutted languidly down the runway in a Cinderella-esque ball gown completely made of denim.
The USC ARTEMIS Next In Line fashion show on April 8 showcased outfits from students made completely from thrifted fabric, emphasizing the importance of sustainability in the fashion industry. Produced by Claire Lee and Annie Zheng, the show centered around “power, royalty, and hierarchy in the modern age,” a theme that designer Rachel Bakke said the team reached after many brainstorming sessions.
“We wanted to kind of flip that on its head because we are thrifty with all of these materials that are all secondhand and very inexpensive and accessible,” said the junior majoring in computer science. “So using those materials to create something that’s just as good and looks just as something like really, really fancy and only accessible to like the elite, it was kind of a lot of that at its core.”
As a member of a fashion club on campus called Bloom, Bakke upcycled pieces before but never created a full outfit. Bakke was able to create two looks for the show, including an all-white dress with reflective metal plating reminiscent of armor.
Sophomore biochemistry major Angelyn Nguyen’s desire to create came to her in a dream when she was young. It later evolved into her making costumes for her high school’s theater productions. Also a member of Bloom, she said one of the biggest obstacles leading up to the show as a designer was gathering second-hand materials, commenting on the hour-long bus rides to the nearest Goodwill bins.
“On the way back, you have to carry all of the big giant bags of fabric that you got and then half the time you go in, there’s not even anything there,” Nguyen said. “So that was one big issue: just getting supplies. And we would try to coordinate with other designers, but still, it was like you had to rely on other people’s schedules.”
In addition to designing the all-denim gown, Nguyen put together an angelic white dress complete with feathers, worn on the runway by Aura Sublime. Aura had walked in a fashion show before and was on the lookout for more opportunities to help their drag career.
“When I saw ARTEMIS post that, I was immediately like, yes, this is my other opportunity,” said the senior theater major. “I’m also into upcycling as a drag artist. It’s what I do because I can’t always afford anything else. Some hot glue couture, it’s like my friend.”
While they admitted to being slightly nervous hours before the show, Sublime was ultimately excited.
“I feel most whole when I’m performing in front of people,” Sublime said. “It’s so rare as artists that we get the opportunity to show our work in front of other people, so it’s always exciting.”
Sophie Hall, a sophomore theater and communications double major, said that the team began planning the show in November after the Creative Director Lina Rehbein pitched the idea to ARTEMIS. After countless fittings and having to replace her male model last minute, Hall said she was excited for her work to finally be showcased.
She most looked forward to seeing her hand-beaded top—meant to look like human figures on the runway—paired with a long denim skirt.
“It was supposed to be about structures of power built up of the working class and people together, hence like the very literal, tiny people,” Hall said. “I just think that the contrast of the concept and denim being the fabric of the working class with the really elegant, so-called unattainable silhouette of the full [skirt] and something hand-beaded, I love that juxtaposition.”
The beaded top made of figurines was also one of hairstylist and associate producer Naomi Gau’s favorites. As ARTEMIS’s treasurer, she was also responsible for making sure the team had enough money to put the show on.
Knowing that the show was mere minutes away, Gau was ready to see the “fruits of their labor.”
“Just seeing all the pieces come together, seeing all the lights up right now, it’s super, super cool,” Gau said. “Just seeing the whole puzzle put together.”
Though the show aimed to subvert ideas of power and royalty, the designers also played with notions of gender through their clothes and choice of models. Alyssa Kim, a senior studying cognitive science, was just one of the designers to experiment with this through her sweater and skirt design.
“My model is male and usually skirts aren’t a common thing for men to wear,” Kim said. “It’s made out of jeans and so very cool. It’s just kind of nice to just think out of the box.”
The show’s out-of-the-box thinking is what brought M.J. Jin to the project as an associate producer. The sustainability at the core of the show, and how it conflicted with ideas of high fashion, initially attracted Jin.
“When we think of high fashion and a lot of times there’s almost a classist or monetary divide between who gets to put together fashion and who gets to participate in these shows and stuff,” said the freshman theater major.
They emphasized that anyone can create art regardless of access or power and hoped to see more events like Next In Line put on by students in the future.
“Support ARTEMIS and support feminist organizations that want to put on things like this because I think the beauty of working with such an organization that wants to put on such things is that we account for things like sustainable, ideal ideas and everything like that,” Jin said.
Next In Line’s afterparty has been postponed to April 23. The pieces displayed in the fashion show will also be auctioned off on Next In Line’s Instagram sometime in the near future.