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 Date:
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Place:
Union County College
Roy W. Smith Theater
1033 Springfield Avenue
Cranford, NJ
Designers:
Hood Star Luxrury, Donna Byrd, Kyjuan Kouture, and Couture Boutique
Scenario:
The UCC Danse Club host an unforgetable fashion spectacle.....
"We Will Be Giving Lessons in Swag and Fashion This Semester"
A lesson was surely taught, but I'm unsure of what the UCC Danse Club was teaching. At times I thought that I was at a grade school show, then at others I thought I was at a raunchy strip club. It was rather hard for me to focus on the fashion show, 1st because of the so-called host and hostess. Now, I'm sure the two individuals that co-hosted the event are brilliant and intelligent students at UCC. However, they should never touch a fashion show microphone AGAIN. Hosting takes a very special person. The host must be engaging, witty, eloquent, at times funny, and hell, know just a tad bit about fashion. The two individuals hosting had no reason attempting to host a fashion show. Maybe a hip-hop show, maybe, just maybe a talent show, but never ever ever again, should either of them attempt to host a fashion show.
The models were ok. There were definitely 2 sets of models (those that should model and those that shouldn't). I'm not going to be too critical of the models because its a college event and an extra-curricular activity. Most of the kids in the show, don't aspire to be models, they are looking to become doctors, lawyers, police officers, teachers, nurses, etc. So hats off to the kids for doing a good job.
The designers were 75% good. I'll just say it this way, thank GOD for Kouture designers, that fly high as Byrd's and belong in Couture Boutiques.
In order to be fair and not so critical, I sought opinions from the models that participated in the show. Tameika of Plainfield, NJ stated "I had alot of fun, but the show could have been more organized." Charday of Linden, NJ stated "The show was pretty good, I had fun, but it was alot of confusion." A female model that requested she remain nameless stated "all this hard work and rehearsals for this? This was the most un-organized and un-professional show ever! This show was horrible!" There were atleast 4 other models that stated the latter.
I did seek the opinion of the fashion show coordinator, the very beautiful Ms. Danielle Bradley aka Diva Star Dani of Linden, NJ. She stated "I'm not going to bad mouth the show. The show came together. Everyone worked as a family. Everyone went out of their way to have fun. We did not want to confine to the rules of fashion." She goes on to say "I apologize to the parents and anyone that was offended by the lingerie or the sexy scenes in the show. My intentions were not to offend anyone." Ms. Danielle Bradley is a very talented model and has been since the age of 4. She is a student at UCC and seeks to pursue her Bachelors Degree from Kean University after the completion of her studies at UCC.
As a fashion show producer/director/coordinator/emcee/host for nearly 18 years now, I've come to learn that you can't do it all. I truly believe that this production would have been much, much better had a professional coordinator and his staff, such as Kyjuan Westry/Two Stones Productions, John Cook Productions, or myself, Lance Alexander Special Event Coordinating had been hired to coordinate the UCC Danse Club fashion show. My suggestion to the Danse Club, is to hire someone to coordinate in the future. Don't try to do it all by yourselves. The fashion show is ultimately a reflection of YOU. I would have rathered seen more of "Diva Star Dani" the model, and less of the Danse Club's fashion show coordinating skills. The show was simply out of the fashion element, highly un-organized and frankly over the heads of the coordinators. Models should model and Coordinators, coordinate. I wish Ms. Danielle Bradley and the Danse Club much success in the future. Don't ever hesitate to contact a professional for next year's show. But hey, that's just one man's opinion. Unfortunately, Runway University failed to live up to it's name, expectations, or swag, therefore I give it a C- for effort.
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