The Virtual Fashion Crawl hosted by the Fullerton College Fashion Department on Instagram showcases unique student designs whilst abiding by Covid-19 stay-at-home orders.
From May 4th – 15th, fashion marketing students were paired with design students to post on the department’s Instagram page every day. Over 15 fashion design students and their garments were featured on posts and stories along with descriptions of their inspirations, obstacles and accomplishments. Garments ranged from formal gowns to wedding gowns, lounge-wear and even face masks.
Fashion Marketing instructor Rachel Nevarez, who helped plan the online event, was proud of how students were able to finish their designs at home despite having limited resources. She listed the need for tools and materials such as sewing machines, patterning paper and open spaces to work.
The fashion department originally planned out an off-campus fashion show and the students’ designs were to be displayed behind shop windows for a week in Downtown Fullerton. A dozen shops agreed and grand opening night was planned out by the department. However, when the Covid-19 virus established social distancing procedures for the rest of Spring, the event was moved online.
“We gained new followers to our accounts, had lots of comments and encouragement for our students, plus the President’s weekly and other Fullerton accounts shared our virtual event,” said Nevarez.
Fashion student Jake Fleur submitted photos of face masks he created with his partner and roommates. He explained that most of them were laid off from work due to quarantine and they wanted to settle on a creative outlet that could benefit other people during the pandemic.
“We received so much positive feedback! Seeing people wear something we made, even if it was just a mask, was such an extraordinary and odd feeling! I can only imagine someone wearing your garment!” he added. Fleur is also accepting mask orders on his Instagram page @jakefluer.
Emerald Taylor is a first-year fashion student who submitted pictures of her vintage-inspired dress. It was her first time creating a dress on her own, from sketch to final stitch.
“I love it! Of course, I see things that I would maybe change or do differently for improvements.. but overall I’m really happy with it!” Taylor commented.
“Since we do a fashion event every Spring, we hope by then we are back to in-person classes and our local shops will be open again. It would be great to put on the original in-person Fashion Crawl or maybe we will go back to a Fashion show. It’s so hard to predict what’s to come. But we WILL do something! Something to honor our amazing design students and all their hard work,” Nevarez expressed.