Bricks become the new red carpet during Thread Magazine fashion week
By: Tiffany Goldstein
ATHENS, OHIO- Thread Magazine an online fashion magazine hosted fashion week on April 3 to April 5 on the Ohio University campus to show off the latest spring trends. Students had the opportunity to attend a motivational speaker, a clothing swap and a fashion show.
Fashion week was kicked off with a motivational speaker named Elizabeth Hendrickson. Hendrickson is a Journalism professor who had several past experiences within the entertainment and fashion industry. The focus of the lecture was “Clothes, Creativity & Content: How to find fashion journalism inspiration wherever you live.”
Elizabeth Hendrickson, a professional journalist and professor at Ohio University, described her experience in working in New York City at a successful entertainment and fashion magazine called Glamour and Ladies Home Journal.
“Being a journalist for the entertainment industry taught me to be creative in a big city, do my research correctly, always negotiate with clients but most importantly to stay out of trouble with the editor-in-chief,” Hendrickson said.
The members of Thread Magazine and numerous other fashion forward OU students filled the Scripps Wilhelm Amphitheater also to hear Hendrickson speak on behalf of how to stand out as an intern in a big city like New York.
“Do not try to sell yourselves, the knowledge about your occupation will set you apart from the rest,” Hendrickson said. “Know famous designers and the business side of fashion and entertainment because nothing beats knowledge.”
Michelle Frantz, Editor-in-Chief of Thread Magazine, shared her views on the same matter of how college students can stand out in today’s society.
“Blogging is trending right now within our generation, Bloggers are influential and are now recommending clothing items that are reasonably priced,” Frantz said. “Bloggers gain readers trust, what you see in a magazine is fake, and everything is orchestrated.”
Thread Magazine highlighted and encouraged students to show self-expression while showcasing their personal style during fashion week. Members that are involved in Thread Magazine also featured Athens fashion culture throughout the week by displaying several different styles such as preppy, elegant, Bohemian and Athens street style. Therefore, the second event to continue fashion week was a “Clothing Swap.”
Thread Magazine held a successful clothing swap on April 4 at 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Baker Center on the fourth floor. Thread offered fantastic deals that were enormously pleasing to OU students. The swap consisted of free, equal exchanges and $1.00 per individual piece purchased without exchange. Shoes and accessories were all included and were traded quickly.
Ohio University students and Thread Magazine gurus had the opportunity to bring different style clothing to exchange with their peers.
Maria Trees, Junior at OU, described her experience at the clothing swap and how she supports Thread Magazine.
“I always attend Thread Magazine events,” Said Trees. “Once I heard Thread was having a clothing swap, I was excited to see the different styles that our student body had to offer. I believe Athens has a style of its own and that style was definitely portrayed through the clothing at the swap.”
The last event to sum up Thread Magazine fashion week was an outrageous fashion show featuring Thread models and trendy spring styles.
The fashion show was held at the Helen Mauck Galbreath Memorial Chapel on College Green at 7 p.m. with several models that were dressed head to toe in top-notch designer clothing ready to strut down the runway. The show was split into three themes including “rainy day,” “culture” and “modern chromatic.”
Thread Magazine took Michael Kors lead and finally placed a plus-size model on the runway. According to The Huffington Post, Kors included all shapes and sizes into his walk during the 2017 New York Fashion Week.
According to The Center for Disease Control, “The Average American woman now wears a size 14 to 34, this means that 65 percent of American women are considered to be plus-size.” Therefore, more designers are now including plus-size women into their runway shows.
The Thread Fashion show runway was filled with different shapes and sizes featuring the most popular spring trends for 2017. Everyone at the show was representing their personality through their clothing and who they are as a person.
Erin Fausel, Fashion Month Coordinator of Thread Magazine, was the director of the show who included all body types in the lineup. Fausel, explains why it is important to knock down the barriers of the typical stereotype of a model.
“Fashion is a hidden language that allows an individual to express oneself and I believe everyone has a story to tell no matter what size you wear in clothing,” Fausel said. “Every model in the fashion show told a story in their own way.”
Erin Fausel was accompanied by the web editor of Thread Magazine Kayla Beard. Both fashion-forward individuals filled the empty moments during the show with laughter, fun-filled fashion questions, and singing.
Fausel made the fashion show interactive by asking several audience members to name the top three trends at OU.
Miraluna Matar, Senior at Ohio University, identified three best trends she had seen walking throughout campus.
“Walking through campus, it is obvious that the original Adidas collection, choker necklaces and destroyed jean jackets are all trending at Ohio University this year,” Miraluna said.
After, some fashion questionnaires the models started strutting down the Galbreath Chapels pews with confidence and poise for the very last time to the song “Umbrella” by Rihanna. The audience was cheering loud and was snapping photos.
The jam-packed chapel was dismissed after the fashion show concluded. Erin Fausel, suggested the audience go outside on College Green for refreshments and appetizers to celebrate Thread Magazine accomplishments during the show and fashion week.
After the fashion show was over, the models were lined up for pictures and questions the audience members may have had. Johnathen Sweeny, model for Thread Magazine, was sharing why he joined Thread outside to several audience members after the show.
Johnathen Sweeney, Freshman journalism student and model for Thread Magazine, explains why he loves fashion and why he joined Thread Magazine.
“I don’t consider myself to be the most fashionable boy on campus, but college is about venturing out and doing things that are different and modeling in Thread fashion week was definitely out of my comfort zone,” Sweeney said.
Thread Magazine fashion week marked a few significant milestones as a fashion publication: The Magazine hosted its second annual fashion week and made it more successful than the previous year. Thread featured different collections within one fashion show and most importantly knocked down the wall of the stereotype of a model by introducing models of all shapes and sizes.
In the year of 2017, Thread Magazine as a fashion publication accomplished another year of successful magazine launches with the help of OU students from several different academic majors and fashion styles all sharing a passion for fashion.
