On Sunday, April 7, 2019, the students and faculty of the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design at the University of Rhode Island will host their 16th annual Spring Splash Fashion Show.
Debuting original apparel designs by students majoring in TMD, the Spring Splash Fashion Show is an evening filled with networking, a cocktail hour and most importantly, unique fashion. After putting on the fashion show for the past 15 years, students and faculty running Spring Splash say that they have come a long way with the event.
Spring Splash began as an event held as a recognition for the accomplishments of the TMD department, URI TMD alumni and industry partners. Along with this, Spring Splash is also held to raise money to help support and improve the TMD department’s ability to educate students through raising funds to go on field trips, have guest speakers from the industry come to classrooms and begin a scholarship fund for students in the future.
“It is a tremendously important event that allows our students to shine,” said the Dean of the College of Business, Maling Ebrahimpour. “The College of Business is thrilled to once again host Spring Splash, an annual student fashion show. Our incredibly talented students and faculty in the Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design department work tirelessly for months to create unique designs to share with the community.”
Different fashion based companies, such as TJX Corporation, who came to the 2018 show, also award students’ scholarships based on criteria for the best designs.
Three prizes are awarded each year, as well as honorable mentions. Students who have dedicated an abundance of their time and energy to the craft they are showcasing say that winning an award at the fashion show is a big accomplishment.
The awards given out to students are presented on the basis of four categories: Most Marketable, Most Creative, Best Sewn Construction and Judges’ Choice.
The panel of judges have ranged from year to year. However, those in the department overseeing the event usually try to have graduates from the program be the judges.
With alumni who have first hand experience with designing for Spring Splash sitting on the panel of judges, they will be able to accurately and fairly judge the students’ designs.
Last year’s Spring Splash judging panel was composed of three graduates of the program. These graduates were Bryce McGillivray, Hannah Stamp and Kayla Demeulenaere. Audience members were also be able to vote for their favorite designs.
Students who design for Spring Splash work on their pieces for months leading up to the event and some students begin the process in the summer, before the semester even begins. A sophomore student designing for Spring Splash, Christie Swanson, is anxious for the show in a few weeks.
“I’ve been working non-stop for so long and I think it’s going to pay off,” Swanson said. “I hope that the event as a whole is really successful, for the students designing for Spring Splash as well as the TMD department.”
Killian Maloney, a senior student, is the coordinator of Spring Splash as well as a designer for the event and has been working on both since last year.
“It helps create a more interactive student body and it promotes the work that we do and all the time we put into out pieces,” Maloney said. “Spring Splash allows students to show their hard effort and allows them to challenge themselves and add to what they learn in classes.”