Fashion Board members at USC styled their favorite outfits on Wednesday at Entourage in Columbia’s Vista for the finale show at 701 Whaley on Thursday, March 28.
Model Rachel Trout is one of the six models wearing Entourage’s spring collection for the USC Fashion Week finale show. The show will feature a total of 36 looks.
A new yellow, gingham skirt set is one of the owner’s favorite pieces in the USC Fashion Week Finale show from Wildflower Boutique.
College students are taking to the catwalk for a cause and teaming up with local clothing retailers to do so.
Fashion Week at the University of South Carolina starts Friday with the second annual boutique crawl and concludes with a finale fashion show on March 29.
“It’s a way to give back to all the retailers that participate in our finale show for USC Fashion Week,” said Katie Landmesser, president of Fashion Board, the student organization in the College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management that organizes fashion week.
All proceeds from the $5 entry fee for the March 29 fashion show go to the American Heart Association.
Shopping the looks on Friday will allow attendees to prepare for the rest of the Fashion Week events and help small businesses in Columbia.
“We really need the brand awareness. There’s a million boutiques around here and some of them are participating too, but we want to be relatable and have our name out there,” said Caitlyn Rudman, manager at Entourage in the Vista. “We want to be a part of the community.
“This store’s been here almost five years and we still have people that have never been here. So, it’s good to bring people in who are thinking, ‘Maybe I should go in there today’ because of the crawl.”
Ryleigh Fleming, new owner of Wildflower boutique in Five Points, is excited to participate in USC Fashion Week to let the public see how the boutique styles are different since recently rebranding.
“It was very ‘Boho’ (bohemian) and I’m still keeping some of those style items because that is kind of my style but it’s mostly more trendy and urban styled clothing,” Fleming said.
Fleming picked out every piece that will be modeled by students in the show.
“There’s a two-piece, yellow, gingham set that I think is really cute and the blue, star-patterned dress is also nice,” Fleming said. “I think that stars are really in right now.”
Rudman handled things differently at Entourage by allowing the students to pick and style the outfits for the show.
“I didn’t want to limit people,” Rudman said. “I’ve never seen these girls. So, if they thought something looked good on them, I said ‘Go for it!”
Nursing major and model for the show Rachel Trout was happy to pick out her outfit for this show because it gave her more options.
“I went to my assigned fitting time last year, and there was only one outfit left,” Trout said.
Other stores participating in USC Fashion Week include Vestique, Just the Thing, Bohemian, and menswear retailer Granger Owings.
