By Ivana Markotic

Just off the heels of Toronto Fashion Week for F/W 2010, Ryerson University is holding it’s annual fashion show on April 9th at the Arcadian Court. “Serpentinata” will showcase the talent from second and third year students, in a core downtown setting. I catch up with project manager, Alex Fox, to find out more about the twist and turns the fashion show has to hold.

Describe Serpentinata and the association with Ryerson fashion.
Serpentinata is the official Ryerson University’s School of Fashion 2nd and 3rd year fashion Show. It showcases the 2nd year designers eveningwear pieces and the 3rd year menswear collections.

Why was this title so fitting for the fashion show?
Someone in our class suggested this name for the show and we just thought it fit! We wanted something surreal, avant-garde and raw, and Serpentinata seemed to fit it well! “Figura Serpentinata (Latin – serpentine figure) is a style in painting and sculpture that is typical of Mannerism. It is similar, but not identical, to contrapposto, and features figures often in a spiral pose.” (from wikipedia)

How long has Ryerson been hosting fashion shows of this caliber?
Ryerson has been showcasing the work of their Fashion Students since the 1950’s and in the 1970’s began hosting smaller-scale Fashion shows.

What is the process like preparing for the finale?
The process is pretty intense! There’s 40 of us, plus our teacher working on the event, and there’s so much work to be done! The past few weeks have been the most stressful, as they’ve been super close to the show, but they’re also so exciting! It’s really great to work in the class as a team on a huge project, too.

What is the most frustrating part of preparing for a show like this?
Hmm, the most frustrating part could also possibly be how many people there are. Since there’s 40 of us, it’s hard to make decisions and all agree upon something; someone is always bound to disagree. However, we also get 40 different perspectives on everything, and 40 different creative ideas! But, we’ve worked really well so far, and are all really happy and excited for the show! There’s definitely advantages and disadvantages to working with such a large group.

Second year students are showcasing evening wear, what are some trends people can expect?
A lot of trends I’ve seen in the eveningwear collections are short, poufy dresses, lots of really elegant ones, but so many flashbacks from different decades. Vintage looks from all eras are really popular in this year’s show.

Third year students are showing menswear, what are some trends people can expect?
Some trends in the menswear collections are definitely some light and springy colours, but there are also some really great dark, structured pieces.

I loved the teaser video posted on the website, how did the “twisted” concept come about?
Well, Figure Serpentinata means a twisted figure pose, so our PR committee took that and made a tagline of ‘Get Twisted”. It kind of just came from there! We have lots of spiraled and twisted elements in the show, and we’re making our own accessories out of wire. They look fabulous, just wait and see!

As project manager, do you have a favourite designer from each category?
Hmm, that’s a hard question. I do have my own favourite pieces from Menswear and Eveningwear, although I don’t think it would be good to pick favourites! There are lots of amazing pieces in both, and all the students worked so hard on their garments!

With Toronto Fashion Week having been moved closer to the date of the Ryerson fashion show, has this impacted you in any way?
We haven’t seen any impact from that yet, I’m hoping it won’t affect us too much! If anything, there was a show from Ryerson last week, we’re hoping maybe PR, VIP and the general public will want to come to this years shows to see the upcoming new designers!

Serpentinata
Friday, April 9th, Arcadian Court (401 bay Street)
6:30 & 8:30 (menswear)
7:30 & 9:30 (eveningwear)
Tickets – $12 for one show, $20 for both eveningwear and menswear
http://serpentinata.com