Performance student collaborate on this past weekend's Fashion show, Mass Exodus
Photography by: Siya Gariba, Carlos Alcordo and Ashni Johal
This weekend, Fashion at the Creative School held their annual Mass Exodus (external link) : an in-person runway and installation that showcases the exceptional work of graduating Fashion Communication and Fashion Design Students. Mass Exodus has a long history of collaborating with the School of Performance, and continued to do so with this year’s Show Director, Performance Production student Sofia Di Cicco (she/her).
“Mass Exodus brought together different schools within The Creative School, such as RTA and the School of Performance, to help bring the show to life,” shares Sofia. “During the show, some students ensured that everything backstage is running smoothly; while others were in charge of operating the lighting and soundboards, and one student was in charge of calling the show by timing all of the lighting, sound, and video cues while also telling the models when they were good to walk on the runway.” From pre-planning to show-running, the opportunity for “cross-disciplinary collaboration” created a networking and resume-building opportunity for students.
The collaboration required for Mass Exodus “allowed students to understand how different fields may approach similar tasks,” Sofia reflects. While her training at the School of Performance provides detailed overview and experience in running live events, naturally there were differences and nuances in a fashion show which Sofia hadn’t previously learned. “They used similar paperwork and had many of the same basic needs, but their processes were vastly different. In performance, the needs of the show are more or less dictated by what happens in rehearsal and a big emphasis of the show are the performers… For fashion shows the designs are the focal point of the show, so the concept of the event is crafted based on what the designer(s) would like.”
Photography by: Siya Gariba, Carlos Alcordo and Ashni Johal
“Overall it was super easy to jump between the two but seeing the ways in which they are different is so interesting. I am so glad this cross-disciplinary collaboration exists because of how it lets students grow and experience things they normally may not within their own school.”