Models of all body types walked the runway to show off apparel design seniors’ capstone projects on Saturday for their senior fashion show “Unveil.” 

Each senior designer displayed three to four outfits with individual themes and addressed an issue within the fashion industry. The models, most of whom were friends with the designer they walked for, walked and posed to a song of the designer’s choosing. 

There were looks from wedding dresses to hiking apparel. Some looks displayed intense drama. A model walked in a bonnet and apron with her hands tied to the song “Just A Girl” by No Doubt.

Laura Dahlin designed the bonnet and apron set with straps tied around the model’s wrists. Dahlin said she wanted to create three wearable statements that represent how men tend to view women as housewives. 

“My love life is full of guys that are always impressed with how ambitious I am, how driven I am and how I want a career,” Dahlin said. “It’s a play on how I’m being pulled between what I want to do, which is have my own career, and the guys that I like being like, ‘Oh, you should be this.’”

A couple of days before the show, Dahlin had doubts about showing her pieces in front of an audience. She was not sure her artful statement pieces would be as good as her peers’. 

During the show, the audience reacted with applause.

“Seeing how people reacted to it is really validating because as a designer, I know my harshest critic is me,” Dahlin said.

T-Jay Yang closed the show with four avant-garde looks reflecting inner conflict. 

One model was bound and blindfolded in a wedding dress. Another model wore a ruffled straight jacket tied by black lace. The third model wore a structured jacket with her arms stuck out wide due to the long sleeves. The final model was in a black suit with a puncturing metal decal on the shoulder and red beads dripping from it.

“It’s my way of expressing my emotion and my words that I can never ignore,” Yang said.

The frilly straight-jacket look was inspired by a feeling of not being able to speak, Yang said. The wedding dress was inspired by Yang’s mother and the fact that women in Hong Kong can be subjected to marriage. 

Another senior, Phoebe Kotecki, designed three wedding dresses to capture the beauty of traditional bridal wear from three Catholic countries — Italy, Spain and Poland.

Three of Kotecki’s friends wore dresses with tiered skirts, billowy sleeves and lace necklines. Kotecki wanted to pay homage to the radiance religious wedding dresses can provide for women.

Kotecki’s capstone was inspired by her grandma’s Catholicism.

“The wedding industry is facing away from religious weddings, and I wanted to create something that thought of people who are very religious,” Kotecki said.

In Isabel DeVetter’s capstone project, she wanted to make hiking apparel with varying colors, silhouettes and functionality. She felt women’s hiking clothes made today are not very unique. Her goal was to make comfortable and functional clothes that she would wear in her everyday life. 

DeVetter’s looks included colorful red and white striped leggings, a baggy orange hiking set with a plaid fleece lining the inside of the jacket and a cropped utility vest with a matching flowy khaki skirt. 

DeVetter was really nervous to show her looks in front of an audience on the runway. 

“You’re putting your entire soul out there in a creative way, and it’s all going to be judged,” DeVetter said. 

Gina Bradford designed a collection of three dresses made to celebrate the women wearing them. Her looks are bridal attire inspired by “The Birth of Venus” painting by Sandro Botticelli. 

The dresses embrace women’s natural body shapes and use varying colors and styles to reflect each model’s individuality. 

Bradford made her three looks with her three models, who are also her friends, in mind. One dress is baby pink with a corset and draped skirt. Pink flower petals adorned the model’s hair and shoes. Another was a soft, flowy turquoise gown with a matching scarf hanging from the model’s neck. The last dress has a white silk skirt and a pearl-embedded bodice that took Bradford 50 hours to make. 

For her capstone, Bradford addressed size inclusivity. 

“I’m passionate about ditching standard sizing and going back to made-to-order, everything tailored to you,” Bradford said. 

After each apparel design senior showed their looks on the runway, audience members clapped and cheered. The seniors walked with their designs for the finale with big smiles on their faces. 

During the post-show reception, bouquets of flowers were stacked on tables, and family and friends proudly hugged the seniors.