VCU School of the Arts, Style Weekly present annual student fashion show

Daphne Maxwell Reid to serve as event commentator

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The Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising presents the Annual Juried Fashion Show on May 8, featuring approximately 125 original garments designed by fashion design juniors and seniors. Actress Daphne Maxwell Reid, host of “Virginia Currents” on Richmond’s WCVE, will serve as event commentator.

“RUNWAY 2016: Emerge” will be held at 8 p.m. at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard. A limited number of tickets are available for purchase online at http://www.showclix.com/event/runway16. The show will be streamed live at http://arts.vcu.edu/fashion/runway.

Segments include “Cut & Sew Knits,” “Menswear” and “Collections from VCUQatar,” as well as the highlight of the event, the “Senior Collections.” The Richmond designs are selected for the show by a jury of fashion professionals. Select garments in each segment will be recognized as the critics’ choices. 

“We are thrilled about this year’s fashion students. Years of work are now yielding the emerging talent evident in both design and merchandising, fully ready for the exciting challenges that await them in the field of fashion,” said Patricia Brown, chair of the fashion department at VCU School of the Arts.

Eleven hand-selected juniors and seniors participated in this year’s Advanced Show Production class, the team responsible for producing “RUNWAY 2016: Emerge.” The students work by committees on different aspects of the show, from model selection and training to backstage operations. The students work both in and outside of the classroom producing a variety of public and private events leading up to the main runway event. The show is a collaboration between the student producers, design students, fashion faculty, vendors and sponsors.

Reid, best known as Aunt Vivian from the hit comedy "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," has launched a custom-made collection of Chinese brocade jackets called “Daphne Style,” which she makes herself.  She is an avid photographer of doors from around the world and has published three books that include accounts of her journeys to capture the portals.

RUNWAY 2016 cosponsors are Janie and Billy Armfield; Carreras Jewelers; CCH Collection; Ellwood Thompson’s; Kanyon Keeney, D.D.S.; Need Supply Co.; Style Weekly; Marcia and Harry Thalhimer; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.