A Lesson on Emotional Acceptance

Laura Taylor, Instructor of Fashion Merchandising Management

The Spring ‘20 semester in the Fashion Show Production course began as every other. Each Spring term my eager and talented sophomore students collaborate to select a theme for their Annual Fashion Show.  This year, for our 39^th Annual Fashion Show, the class voted for Yuuka Sano’s theme “Ebullition”. Ebullition is a sudden outburst of emotion.  The production team was immediately attracted to this theme because it enabled students the opportunity to explore how their individual interpretations of trends could invoke emotional responses to which all attendees could relate. The goal of the student production team was ambitious – to use distinctive fashion and the Japanese concept of ki do ai raku (happiness, anger, sadness, joy) to connect with each attendee and allow viewers to reflect on their own feelings while watching interpretations of ebullition – the sudden outburst emotions – literally walk down the runway.

As the first half of the semester progressed, the students made strong, impressive progress on the planning, coordinating and collaborating which is necessary for the show. They separated into committees to streamline and efficiently complete the many fashion show tasks.

• Yuuka Sano and Manami Horikawa led the Planning Committee and were focused on choosing scene coordinators and setting model tryouts. The committee held weekly meetings to ensure consistent communication and to hold the scene coordinators accountable and on schedule for the many deadlines involved in completing scenes for a fashion show.
• The Back of House Committee including: Johnathan Jablonski, GQ (Gaoquan Cui), Marissa Conte, and Chie Kai, coordinated with hair and makeup specialists for services the day of the show; GCC’s Buildings and Grounds Department for an efficient layout of the backstage area were creating a schedule to allow 150+ persons to complete hair, makeup, dressing, styling, photoshoot, lunch, a break, and a dress rehearsal in five hours.
• Meanwhile, Olivia Kohorst and Kim Truesdell, as the Front of House Committee, were organizing everything the attendees see. The seating, stage, food, vendor fair, ticket line, VIP accommodations, decorations, music, reception and photo op area were being planned. They sourced entertainment and refreshments creating a feeling of raku for the attendees.
• Jessica Piper and Nicole Ortiz were the members of the Marketing Committee, responsible for coordination of communication within the classroom, across GCC, and with the larger community throughout the region. Social media updates were scheduled and posted.

An artwork contest was held and Matthew Liebler’s poster design was chosen. The poster, the first of many visual representations, was ready to be presented to the public. Tickets were being sold and the Ebullition concept was coming together. Design major scene coordinators were designing, sewing and upcycling looks to fit with their scene emotion. Merchandising major scene coordinators were styling looks from retail stores and personal collections to communicate their theme. These students were positive, team- and greater-good oriented. They exhibited passion, determination and helpfulness in all they accomplished. They were excited about their progress and they were looking forward to the arrival of the printed posters over spring break. Then COVID-19 closed campus and they could not return to campus.

There is no emotion to describe what the students were feeling when the fashion show, the culmination of their education at GCC, was cancelled. Perhaps if we used a thesaurus, listed every synonym for anger and sadness, consulted with etymology scholars, and created some new words, we may be close to verbalizing their disappointment. I too was heartbroken knowing my students would not be able to experience the physical representation of their hard work in a stressful, intense, exciting evening where their efforts would be recognized. They lost the opportunity to share their gratitude, creativity and vision in a physical space with all of you.

Being the creative fighters that they are, my students realized the fashion show is about communication, which can be achieved in several mediums and they were not going to accept the silencing of their creative voice. So, alternatives were discussed. Since the cancellation of the on-campus fashion show, the students have re-designed the show three times, changing it to meet ever restricting COVID-19 rules to keep everyone safe. In one of the first distance learning classes following the closure of the GCC campus, the students were easily able to communicate anger and sadness related to the predicament we were in. Happiness was more difficult, but was found when Olivia Kohorst mentioned she was happy that the entire class was healthy and not fighting COVID. I promised my students that the joy they were feeling early in the semester, with the anticipation of the on-campus show, would be experienced when the final solution, a dedicated website went live.

So Ebullition morphed from a live, on-campus fashion show into this website, GCC’s first online fashion website featuring the designs and styling of the GCC Fashion Program scene coordinators. The physical environment changed – you are viewing my students’ images on a screen from your home office, car or living room rather than the decorated Richard C. Call Arena on GCC’s Batavia campus. You may have dressed up as you would have for the fashion show or perhaps you are scrolling through the images in loungewear. The fashion show music is limited to your own selection – just as loud, and the food in your ‘fridge – just as tasty. Instead of watching the show with 1000 attendees, you are clicking through the site safely with those you live with or while you Facetime or Zoom with your loved ones.

Most importantly, your comments are your applause! My students will benefit from your thoughts on their “show” in the Guest Book-Comments section.

We hope you are all healthy and if you are fighting COVID-19, we hope this website gives you a little distraction as you recover. At this time, we can all appreciate at least one of the many lessons my students have learned this semester: No matter how well you prepare, in the fashion industry and life you need to creatively problem solve when things go awry. I wish you an enjoyable experience of Ebullition, my students’ creative communication and sudden outburst of emotions.