Fashion Students Getting Real-World Experience with Two Class Projects This Fall
Students in Karen Eagle's fashion courses are gaining real-world experience this fall through two class projects - one coming up in November at Norfolk's MacArthur Center, and the other that can be seen on the second floor of Old Dominion University's Education Building.
Throughout the semester, the 24 students in Visual Merchandising and Display are taking turns transforming an interior office window into a fashion display window, complete with clothed mannequins standing before a decorated backdrop.
Each week, small groups of students work together to create their displays, which they "unveil" at 4:20 p.m. Thursday next to room 237 in the Education Building. The class project will continue through Dec. 9.
"We've already had some windows that blew everybody away," said Eagle, an instructor in ODU's undergraduate fashion program who joined the STEM education and professional studies department this fall. "These girls are finding their own materials and filling up the space. I love it when they're so creative and pull it off. These windows could be in any store."
Also, as part of an assignment for Eagle's Fashion Show Production course, students are organizing an informal modeling event for Shop from the Heart: A Night of Giving, an after-hours shopping event at MacArthur Center to benefit Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD).
In the coming weeks, the students will issue a model call on campus for fellow students who are interested in modeling clothing at the event, which is scheduled for 6:30-9:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Students from the class will interview and select the volunteer models, and work with stores at the mall that are interested in having their clothes modeled.
The students will also set up a table at the event to promote ODU's fashion program. The fashion major is a 120-hour program designed to prepare students to enter the fashion industry to become buyers, fashion coordinators and merchandise managers. For more information about the program, visithttp://education.odu.edu/ots/academics/undergrad/fashion.shtml.
Tickets for Shop from the Heart can be purchased by calling CHKD at 668-7098 or by going online to www.shopfromtheheart.net. Those who purchase the $5 tickets in advance will be entered to win a $1,000 MacArthur Center gift card.