Students turn class projects into vintage fashion exhibit
When in an academic setting, it is common for a student’s classwork to never see the light of day after the end of the semester.
However this time, one IU professor wanted to avoid that.
Ashley Hasty, a professor in the Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design department, wanted to expand the shelf life of her students’ work. So, she put them in a gallery exhibit.
“Students produce work and it’s often only seen by professors and their peers,” she said. “Exhibiting your work can do a number of things.”
Whether it becomes a résumé builder or a networking possibility, this exhibit offers an opportunity for students to experience what it is like to have their hard work pay off by being featured in a gallery setting.
“Vintage is the New Black,” an exhibit that unveils the class’s exploration of fashion history, is currently on view at the IU Center of Art and Design in Columbus, Ind.
The exhibit will remain open until Feb. 13.
Its reception will take place 6–8 p.m. Jan. 16 at the center.
Featured in the exhibit is a range of projects that played with the identity of fashion and fashion trending between the 1700s and 1970s.
Hasty listed off in an email handmade and historically accurate garments, paper dolls, mood boards, mock window displays, posters, hand-drawn advertisements and a fictional diary, among other things.
First off, it is not common for ?students to get their work displayed in this type of professional setting.
Additionally, Hasty said this was the first time a class has had the opportunity to feature its work in the center’s gallery space.
The course, History of Fashion, was offered last fall on campus. Hasty said the possibility of exhibiting student work didn’t even come to mind until she started grading her class’s first ?project.
“It started just as an in-class ?project,” she said.
The class was designed to be open-ended.
The Apparel Merchandising section of the department is unofficially divided into two areas of study: apparel merchandising and fashion design.
This class catered mostly to fashion design majors, however Hasty said she wanted to allow other students to showcase their own specialties.
“That was what made the projects unique,” Hasty said. “Students showed that students can create something really well done if they are interested in the subject.”
Lauren Anderson, a senior in the fashion design program, took Hasty’s class last semester.
She said the class went in chronological order and had the students group up and experiment in what fashion was trending in each era.
Her group focused on garment and accessory ?creation.
For its first project, Anderson’s group created a short riding-style jacket that was bright yellow, she said.
The fabric for the jacket was both dyed and ?hand-painted.
“It was more of a modern take of the time period we were studying,” she said.
This project focused on the mid-1800s and is featured in the exhibit.
Anderson said having a variety of talents in the class led to an interesting ?dynamic.
Apparel merchandising majors and fashion design majors have very different techniques instilled in them during their time studying ?at IU.
Classes in the department can be very specific for either apparel merchandising or fashion design. For example, only fashion design classes teach students how to sew.
However in this case, Anderson said having both disciplines gave the class a wide variety.
The class also allowed Anderson to push her boundaries aesthetically.
Because the class was based around the history of fashion, they had to not only study the fashion, but live it, she said.
The class’s projects were historically accurate, especially in the case of the students who created ?garments.
“It was a struggle, but at the same time it was a gift,” Anderson said. “It was really beneficial to really dive into those periods.”
Now, Hasty said they will get to hold a make-shift class reunion this Friday at the ?exhibit opening reception.
“Ultimately it was a lot of fun,” Hasty said about ?the class.
It can be easy to make a course essay-based, but switching gears away from just paper and words and into more visual work challenged students to explore their own interests, ?Hasty said.
“I do think students took the effort to make their projects more professional, more visual,” she said.
Hasty said she would do this again if given the ?opportunity.
Even though it took a lot of work to get all of the class work curated and on display, everything tied together for Hasty when she saw her class’ work hanging and arranged in the gallery space.
“It was a lot of work,” Hasty said. “I loved every minute of it.”
