Inside the Voyage to Utopia Fashion Show

By: Lauren Galdeano

Photos: Lauren Galdeano

One thing that someone from the outside may fail to realize is how rigorous modeling can be. When watching the fashion show at the end of the semester, they only see the final product. They don’t see the hours spent practicing or the long nights trying to perfect their walks and poses.

Modeling is more than simply walking down a runway in nice extravagant clothes. It’s more than being in the spotlight and the center of attention. And it’s more than just trying to show off your body and your pretty face. Modeling can be seen as a way of expressing yourself and trying to find who you are or want to become.

Kaliah Stanley, a sophomore at Marymount University and second year model for Voyage to Utopia said, “I didn’t expect it to boost my confidence or have different beneficial effects that it has. I thought it was just modeling but it is actually a lot more. I am more comfortable with my body than I was before modeling.”

Modeling can also help people break out of their shell and be more of the person that they really want to be. When walking down the runway, it is important to be fierce and confident in yourself.

It can almost be seen as your alter ego on the runway but that confident person will eventually become part of who you are off of the runway.

Running an organization such as the Voyage to Utopia Charity Fashion Show requires a lot of dedicated time, hard planning, and coaching. It requires an equal amount of work from not only the coordinators and the board and models, but the designers as well. There are also other outside people that are involved, such as makeup artists, hair stylists, photographers, videographers, and more.

Junior Erikah Hatch, Model Coordinator and third year model, does everything to help the models. These include teaching them to walk, posing, the choreography, and what their photoshoots are going to look like. When asked what goes into running an organization such as Voyage, Hatch said, “A lot of teamwork, this isn’t something that only one person can do.”

Marymount hosted their yearly Voyage to Utopia Charity Fashion Show for the 11th year in December. In regards to the history of Voyage and how it is in comparison to this year, Hatch said, “We tried to keep some things traditional but I believe that change is also necessary.”

Although there were some returnees, a lot of the models are also fairly new with little to no experience, not having done anything like this before. During tryouts the models were taught one pose called the “Basic Pose” and were also taught how to walk in their heels in preparation for trying out.

After tryouts and once they have been chosen, the models learn the other three poses which are the side pose, double side pose, and full back. They will practice these four main poses with each other throughout the months leading up to the show to perfect them for show day.

“Full back is my favorite pose because it is the most sensual,” Stanley said. “It gives you a lot more time to show yourself and it is also one of the hardest poses. But it gives you your time to shine in comparison to the other poses.”

One thing that someone from the outside may fail to realize is how rigorous modeling can be. When watching the fashion show at the end of the semester, they only see the final product. They don’t see the hours spent practicing or the long nights trying to perfect their walks and poses.

Junior Terrance Stringer, Head Coordinator and second year on the board, is one of the people in charge of the entire show. From making calls to lighting companies and vendors, he also delegates different task to other people on the board while trying to make sure that everything is running smoothly and everyone is doing their part.

When asked about how tough the practices are for the models Stringer said, “It’s tough because you are so used to walking a certain way your whole life and then there’s somebody coming in and saying forget all that for now you have to walk this way, you have to walk with your shoulders back, chin up,  you can’t look like you’re annoyed you have to give off a certain face and it’s kind of hard to adjust all that.” “Even though they are not super physical changes, the little adjustments add up.”

Although Voyage is part of the African Caribbean Student Association, they are welcoming to all students of all cultures and backgrounds. Many people may not realize how culturally diverse Marymount actually is, with approximately nine percent of the Marymount community being made up of students from overseas, including 70 different countries.

Joining a club like Voyage allows students to meet new people and become friends with others who are not only very similar to you, but who might also be very different from you. The friendships that are made during this time can sometimes become lifelong friendships.

“I like the fact that Voyage was open to everyone and all cultures, because you get to meet so many people and network,” Stanley said. “It’s a constant support system like a sister and brotherhood and lot of my close friends came from Voyage. We all look out for each other because we are with each other all the time. We always support each other in practice, so if someone falls we clap and we are encouraging and supportive of them.”

Each year, the fashion show raises uses the ticket sales to raise money to donate to charity. The board is able to pick the charity to which they will donate the money.

Hatch said, “The charity we choose depends on what theme we are doing, if we’re doing an African theme or a Caribbean theme.  Based off of which theme we’re going on we choose the charity.”

There will always be pros and cons that come along with the experience. Stringer said, “One of the downsides is we have a lot more newcomers so it’s going to take a while as far as the models and the board for both sides to adjust. It’s hard but towards the end and toward the show day you can definitely see a lot of improvement within the models and it’s crazy. From day one they are like little babies and then the last day they are like grown adults ready to walk the runway.”

The models dedicate every Tuesday and Thursday for the first few months before the show to practice with each other and prepare themselves. As the show dates gets closer, practices get longer and they focus more on improvements that need to be made. The week leading up to the show, models are at practice every day for several hours practicing their walks and poses with their heels and outfits that they have been chosen to wear.

As for what the models wear, they try to pick local designers in the D.C, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area. Picking a designer can vary; either they know them from previous years or they try to find them on the internet though the work that they have displayed.