Jazmin del Angel | Reporter
May 3, 2016; 9 a.m

The inspiration for this year’s Fashion Thesis Exhibition varied immensely. Fourteen undergraduate fashion design seniors created their collections for the Spring Fashion Show and exhibition. Topics such as Paris, grief, family relations, attitudes and urban culture were incorporated in the collections that will be displayed at the Spring Fashion Show on Saturday May 7, at Mercedes Benz. For the first time there are student discount tickets at $10.

The Fashion Thesis Exhibition opened on Thursday, April 28, at The Boyle Family Gallery at the J. Scheidegger Center and runs until Thursday, May 5. At its opening, the students presented their concepts and what to expect of their collections and they were well received from the attending faculty members, students, as well as family and friends.

The purpose of having the students present their inspirations was to give them experience in defending their work in a public manner.

“It is very important that our students make very conceptual and intelligent designs,” assistant professor Nasheli Ortiz said. “This part of the gallery is very important because it is all [about] their thoughts behind their collection.”

The professors were also able to see the progress that the students have done from past years.

“It definitely shows progress for each person and the end products are going to be amazing,” said professor Michelle Hardesty.

“It is amazing [to] see my students, who [prior] started crying because of their anxiety, [be able to] talk in front of people and defend their points,” Ortiz added.

After much hard work, the students now feel very “fresh.”

“People don’t really know what we do,” senior Miho Honda said. “It is really an exhausting process. We usually don’t sleep because we have to sew a lot, [but] now we are done and I feel super fresh.”

Having friends and family attend the exhibition is important to Honda.

“We have only this opportunity to show our things,” Honda said. “I just want them to come and see, because fashion shows are really fun. You can come, dress up, sit down and look like a celebrity just watching the show.”

According to Ortiz, the exhibition has surpassed expectations.

“Year after year, we grow and we learn of our mistakes and we make it better,” Ortiz said. “The students have a lot of creativity and they are not that scared to create and explore.”

Fashion Design Department Chair, Chajuana Trawick added, “For the fourth year I have been here, it has only got better and better.”