As a Journalism/Public Relations student minoring in Fashion, I have found myself interested in and surrounded by event production. As a member of the ASU student organization, The Chic Daily, I was beginning to see our production value decrease as we hosted our semesterly charity fashion show events. Factors playing a part in that included so many various items such as who was leading the production, how much time we had, venue conflicts, time conflicts, etc. I saw that our main problem was that two months was not enough time for full-time students to plan a quality, large-scale event, thus our student organization’s tradition needed to evolve into hosting a yearly non-profit fashion show instead. I also saw an opportunity for our events to be so much more than just a student-based event. For my Barrett, The Honors College Thesis, I created a public relations campaign to promote a fashion show I produced, and analyze the impact of the media campaign on the attendance and overall perception of the show. I conducted secondary and primary research regarding our past fashion shows, including relevant interviews with previous producers, event statistics and a social media audit. Moving forward, I began the branding process for our next show, including building a branding guidelines book, organizing and creatively directing promotional photoshoots, and organizing the timeline for a model casting, picking the venue, coordinating with sponsorships, building a budget, building media lists, drafting media advisories and pitches, and more. In producing the fashion show, I created a magazine to put on every guest’s chair, as well as curated the runway choreography, vendor organization, model and designer lineup.

Fashion is individual in its expression. It is also universal. Fashion is a cumulation of different influences and different interpretations. We currently live in a climate divided by race, culture, gender, and so much more. It is so difficult to find common ground on a global platform. Something that stands alone is fashion. Fashion is influenced by so many aspects. Of these, aspects that I am interested in are culture and sustainability. When combined with culture, fashion can anchor and have a root to the generations that came before us. When combined with sustainability, we have an anchor to the planet that we share with everyone. The result of fashion is always the same, beautiful art. I want people to see the beauty not only in the art itself, but the differences and similarities that such art provides. We all come from the same world but have different ways of expressing that world. My goal is to show people that they need to acknowledge the differences but can choose to see the similarities of each culture. Additionally, I redesign garments that capture an emotion and a story. Making each piece individual yet serving a greater purpose sustainability wise. I envision the principle of sustainable fashion to be the basis of each piece of clothing. Therefore, for my creative project I am constructing five art pieces representing five cultures that has had a significant influence on my life and personal style. These cultures are those of UAE, Germany, Nepal, Mexico, and Spain. Each of these garments are made from recycled fabric and clothing donated by family and friends. My objective is to display sustainable fashion that has deep cultural influence. Every piece has a story and an emotion attached as well to create a connection with the clothing itself.

Since I was a child, I was active in the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval reenactment group. Through my involvement with the group, I developed an interest in medieval European history, and I had the opportunity to take several jewelry making classes. I have been making jewelry for about seven years, and I especially love making chainmail jewelry, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that in this project. Rather than preparing a jewelry collection, I decided on a larger, more focused project – a period dress made of chainmail. I chose the Viking apron dress because it is a style that I myself have often worn in the SCA. To make the piece more personal to me, I incorporated influence from my Japanese heritage as well, both in the weave and in the cherry blossom theme of the dress. This project allowed me to explore the similarities and differences between Viking and Japanese culture, as well as to work with new metals and metalworking techniques that I had not worked with previously. For this project, I crafted an apron dress out of copper and nickel using the Hikaru weave, a variant of Japanese 6-in-1. I also sewed an underdress with simple chainmail trim and crafted a pair of cherry blossom shaped pins in place of the traditional tortoise brooches. This piece was a challenge to myself, as this was my first attempt at a project on this scale, and I had the opportunity to learn many new techniques along the way. While my finished piece has changed quite a bit from my original vision, I’ve learned so much from this project – about the cultures I tried to convey with the piece, as well as about myself and what I am capable of accomplishing.

The purpose of this creative project was to investigate the process a start-up or small business must complete to have a sell-able apparel product manufactured. The initial goal of the project was to experience the manufacturing process from start to finish and complete a full production run from a professional manufacturer. The conclusion found was that start-ups and small businesses will have to begin production within the United States.