PROJECT FASHION
As part of a collaboration and photoshoot with Project Fashion, Nutmeg Publishing spoke with Gabriella Crean, a seventh-semester journalism and communications major, and Daniella Green, a third-semester communications major, about PF’s inner workings, their favorite events, and how they have adjusted to being back in person. Crean and Green serve as president and treasurer of PF, respectively.
NP: Can you tell me a little bit about Project Fashion?
GC: Project Fashion is a fashion club at UConn. What we strive to do is create an inclusive, fun, creative environment for our members to use our club as an outlet, inspiration, or just to meet people with similar interests. We’ll talk about topics regarding fashion, personally and globally, and how that impacts us as individuals and as a society.
NP: What are some of your favorite Project Fashion programs/events?
GC: Some of my personal favorites are the thrift trips and photoshoots. Social media is super fun nowadays, and everyone is always looking for more content. [It’s fun] to get pictures in your favorite outfits, and it’s a great bonding activity for our members.
Some of the other activities that I really like [is the] pins and patches sale, which is a little fundraiser for our club. I really like other collaborations that we do with different organizations on campus, like [Nutmeg Publishing] or the Benton Museum. Usually a collaboration with [the Benton Museum] might look like, if they have an art exhibition, we might create outfits that are inspired by their art collection, and we might put together a two to three minute video with our members and the outfits that they create, which I think is really fun.
DG: I really like the general body meetings when we talk about different topics because I like putting in my input and also hearing the other members. I also really like when we do collaboration with photoshoots because it’s always fun to put together outfits and see the different possibilities and how it relates to what we’re doing.
NP: Do UConn students need fashion experience to participate?
GC: Not at all. We have [had] this saying for a few years: “Do you wear clothes? Join Project Fashion.”
I actually prefer it if we have a wide variety of interests and backgrounds, because that definitely adds more to the conversation, and I love seeing people come to the club, learn something new, learn personal style… It’s fun seeing our members transform and you can see that in their style throughout the year.
NP: UConn’s organizations have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. What are some ways that Project Fashion has adapted the return to campus to continue providing students with a valuable experience?
GC: I think the transition back to in person only helps the club, because we can not only have discussion-based meetings but we can [also] have these events that people can go to, interact with each other, and make friends, and [that] was something that we were really missing when we were online.
Photos by Liz Helmin Written by Colin Sullivan
NP: What was the process of picking out outfits for the models in terms of the theme of transitioning from online school fashion to in-person fashion?
GC: Considering that we were only able to ask three models to participate, we wanted to make sure that the rest of the club had some kind of participation with this collaboration. We held [a general body] meeting and talked about the transition from online back to in person and how that affects what we wear and our decision making when it comes to school and clothing. We had our members create their own slide in the [slideshow] so that they could put outfit inspiration for the models. We ended up choosing randomly from the members who signed up.
We talked about bringing comfort back into clothing… loungewear is super popular now. Also, we talked about how it could be the opposite; some people could be going all-out, bringing up their style game…They really enjoy putting together outfits, and it can be hard when you’re locked away for a year and no one can see that. Mainly, I pushed for the models to choose an outfit that they feel comfortable and confident in and something that expresses who they are. I think, even moving back in person, fashion will always be a form of self expression, and that was something that was really important to come across in our model’s outfits.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.