The China In The World fashion show took place in the Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) Building atrium on Wednesday, March 29, 2017.
The event officially started at 3:30 p.m. and finished around 6 p.m. Rupi Guo, professor of fashion design at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, traveled from China to show her designs modeled on Kean University students. This event was a collaboration between Kean University and Rutgers University.
China In The World had a dress rehearsal the day before the event. Students who volunteered to help with the event were students from the Asian Studies program, Department of History, Union County Academy for Performing Arts (APA) High School, and were from Wenzhou-Kean University.
The reception began at 3 p.m. in the STEM auditorium, where welcome remarks were made by Sue Bousquest, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Kean University, and Dietrich Tschanz, scholar of the Confucius Institute of Rutgers University.
Afterwards, Dr. Sue Gronewold, the coordinator of the World History Program and interim coordinator of the Asian Studies Program, initiated the introduction.
"We wanted something more limited [compared to last year's event] and fun," said Dr. Gronewold. "So we thought of China In The World fashion show."
Fashion historian, director and curator of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Dr. Valerie Steele spoke about the history of Chinese fashion and the development of the clothes throughout history.
Steele mentioned, "From the dragon robes of Imperial China, to the 20th century invention of the qipao, also known as the cheongsam, Chinese dress has influenced the west and has played a very important role in Chinese social and cultural history."
After Steele finished discussing the history and overview of Chinese fashion, Dr. Gronewold introduced Guo to the stage. Dr. Xurong Kong, director of Chinese Studies and Asian Studies at Kean University, helped translate through the language barrier since Guo could only speak Mandarin.
"Yesterday, I was worried the sky was cloudy and dark, but today it opened up," Guo said in Mandarin. "But actually, in Chinese, if the sky opens up, then that means good luck."
Guo discussed the themes of her designs as well as what fashion meant to her and how it was connected to her roots.
"Personally, I believe design is also a type of language, so of course the design will demonstrate the language style -- the way we talk, the way we communicate," Guo said. "[I] have been asked many times: How to present Chinese culture, the traditional and the values of the conventions? I feel you should feel motivated to make your own style and fashion."
Guo described her design concepts throughout history, "as vast as [the] open sea."
She would focus on the detail, color and pattern for her clothes.
"I believe the design should not be designed to date but used accordingly to current style," Dr. Kong translated. "Meanings are spacious...The flower holds so many feelings and interpretations. It could be flirtatious or elegant. Even the smell of flower differs between the west and east. Another theme is the hexagon. It is not just a shape of six sides, it is a pattern. These six sides represent heaven, earth and the four directions. It means the harmonious idea between nature and humans...The last theme walks away from Chinese tradition; it relates more to knitting. Traditionally, people link knitting with autumn or winter, but I did the exact opposite and related it to spring and summer. I used knitting to show 'the breeze gently blows.'"
After Guo finished her concepts and interpretations of her designs, Dr. Gronewold invited everyone to move downstairs to the atrium. There, she did an introduction to the fashion show and directed everyone's attention to the stairs.
Three APA students, Christiana Marie Alicante, Kayleigh Pender and Sasha Zitofsky, who are part of the dance program on campus, positioned themselves on the stairs and waited for music to being. Once the music started, the dancers moved freely to the rhythm while the dressed models came down the stairs one by one, and walked down the "runway" of the atrium. Every student was dressed according to the themes Guo mentioned.
Each model were either from the Asian Studies program, Wenzhou-Kean University Student Association (WKUSA), the Department of History or APA students. The models were Mai Cao, Jacques-Andre Chapin, Kira Ewaskiew, Shanice Oke, Shuolian Ni, Tianai Qiu, Olivia Roder, Tariq Walsh, Shuyao Wang, Xinjia Wu, Yixiao Zhou and Fangqin Zhu. They all held a stoic face as they walked down and demonstrated the definition of fashion professionalism.
After each model showed their outfit, the APA dancers moved around the atrium and all the models came down one last time before they circled the runway.
After the fashion show ended, Guo opened the floor to questions and comments. Many people asked to further discuss her way and process of designing these clothes, while Dr. Kong translated each question and answer English to Mandarin and vice versa.
People can see more of Guo's fashion designs here. Those who missed the fashion show, the Asian Studies program uploaded a video of the students in the designed clothes.
After the questions finished, the guests and visitors were welcomed to Chinese food and drinks. There were many options ranging from fried rice to noodles and two different choices of bubble tea.
The whole fashion show could not have been done without the production help of Michele Mossay, managing director of APA, dance minor coordinator and professor at Kean University, Emily Conklin and Lucas Pinner, students part of the theatre program at Kean University.
Thanks to the Asian Studies program, Department of History, APA-Kean program, WKUSA and Confucius Institute of Rutgers University for bringing together such a beautiful event.
