By Laura Pelner
Staff Writer

The original clothing and apparel designs of about 50 students from the Purdue Fashion Association will be showcased at a fashion show on Saturday night. The association's show is a presentation that reflects certain trends in fashion and most of the students involved are apparel design and technology majors.

The theme for the show is "In Our Element." Lauren Pfenninger, a senior in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences, said that this theme "reflects individual designer style and design, which in turn reflects the personality and trends" of the designers.

Pfenninger works with Dennis Horng, who is also a senior in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences. Together they are in charge of the promotion and advertising committee for the show. They "went to local advertisers to get sponsors for the programs," said Horng. They have received publicity from organizations such as 95.7 The Rocket, who put a spot on the air about the show. All the proceeds from the advertising and ticket sales will "go toward student scholarships," said Pfenninger.

Vivian Morton is an instructor in the apparel technology program and she is this year's program director for the show. The students involved are divided into different committees, such as makeup and hair, staging and promotion and advertising. Morton's job is to "work with students so they can pull it together."

The show allows the student designers a lot of freedom because they "can make whatever they want with whatever they want," said Pfenninger. She also added, "the older the person is in rank, the more they get to put into the show," regarding pieces of apparel.

Horng explained that the process of making the clothes is not easy and requires a lot of steps. The students do it "totally from scratch, depending on their level." For example, the senior design class has to conceptualize an idea, develop a line of clothing, sketch and draw what they want, draft patterns, order and buy fabric and then cut out and assemble everything.

Their apparel is shown by 25 different models and a lot of the clothes are actually designed specifically for their bodies. Pfenninger said the association "had a callout for the models" and narrowed down what they were looking for from there.

Furthermore, all of the models' hair is done by Studio 2 and their makeup is done by Prescriptives. "An incentive to go to the show is that L.S. Ayres is donating free samples of the makeup" to all those who attend, said Pfenninger.

Horng anticipates that the show will be "a lot of fun." Aside from the actual fashion show, there is a live disc jockey, Noah Mattern, who does all his own music and an art gallery, which will show the fashion illustrations of some of the student designers.

• The fashion show is at 8 p.m. Saturday in the South Ballroom of the Purdue Memorial Union and tickets are available at the door for $5.