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STYLE
Buffalo’s in fashion at Runway 3.0
By Jana Eisenberg
Anot-so-quiet style revolution is in progress in Buffalo, and we can give a chunk of credit to Erin Habes. The 2003 Buffalo State Fashion Technology graduate, now a lecturer at her alma mater, is also the director and producer of the Buffalo State College Runway series. And she’s making her best effort to put Buffalo and its aspiring fashion stars on the map.
For the third year, the department is putting on a combination fundraiser, student design competition, and glamorous fashion show—Runway 3.0. (Before I met Habes, I didn’t even know that Buff State had a fashion technology program. It is now one of the fastest growing majors on campus, she says.) The big day is May 1; there will be two shows, at 4 and 9 p.m. The later show will include the final judging, VIP seating, a DJ, and an after-party, and it’s all free and open to the public.
The wins of the overall event are many. Participating students—mostly seniors—gain experience and exposure. It raises funds to bolster the students’ education, enabling field trips and other opportunities. And the public gets a serious gander at what is going on in this hotbed of creativity and inspiration. The competition is open to the senior project class, says Habes. Student designers submit a collection of ten to fifteen pieces on a theme, and are prescreened for inclusion in the show. Celebrity judges oversee the final competition; Habes is stepping up the fame factor with imported, fashion-house faces.
This year’s theme, “Technology: progression/obsession,” is inspired by trends toward extreme expression—whether simplicity or over-the-topness—to somehow address the waterfalls of information that wash over us through our culture. In selecting the students for the final competition, Habes and fellow faculty review contestants’ ninety-percent-completed collections. “We determine whether they meet the theme criteria—are their trend boards on point? Does their thought process come through? During this internal judging session, we try to get an overall sense of what the collection is about,” says Habes.
One of her brainstorms was to aim high in terms of venue. She took the event off campus, creating additional buzz. The first year, it was the Albright-Knox. The second, it was the Burchfield Penney. This year, it’s the industrial behemoth Pierce-Arrow Building. Habes is thrilled with the 20,000-square-foot raw space. “This is going to be the new event hot spot,” she enthuses. “When I walked in, I was freaking out; it felt like NYC. I didn’t realize that something like this exists here—the possibilities are endless. I’m so happy to be rechristening it. I learned that Rick James used to rehearse there—the rumor is you can even see bullet holes from some of his crazier times!”
This event, says Habes, is a terrific opportunity for all involved. She reaches out into the community for sponsorship, hair/makeup/accessory support, models, and even professional designers who hail from the area, like Adam Lippes and Mara Hoffman. “Everyone—from families and friends of designers, to the public following, and the 120 models drawn from other colleges and young professionals—has so much fun being a part of it.”
Runway 3.0 is May 1 at the Pierce Arrow Building, 1685 Elmwood Ave. Tickets for the 4 p.m. show: students $7/general $10; 9 p.m. show: general $20/VIP $100—available at the Buffalo State College Rockwell Hall box office and Wegmans. For info, visit www.bscrunway.wordpress.com.
Jana Eisenberg writes on a variety of subjects for Spree.
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