There was a mystical air in the St. Charles Room as models walked the runway at the Black Student Union’s fashion show on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Loyola students modeled local New Orleans boutiques and designers, at the show entitled “Mystique”.

Carlantha Roberts, psychology junior and BSU special events coordinator, said she enjoyed the variety of students willing to strut their stuff.

“I really like the diversity of the models,” Roberts said.

Raymond Price, mass communication freshman, said he has enjoyed attending BSU events this year and jumped at the opportunity to model in its biggest one.

“I thought it would be nice to team up with them in whatever way I could since I’m not a member,” Price said.

Roberts said she appreciates the local vendors, such as Wish, Friend, and Langford Market, that lended a helping hand to provide clothing for the fashion show. She said she believes it is important to promote local businesses and showcase ways to be fashionable on a budget.

“It’s not like high fashion pieces costing $100. People can go out in the city and buy these clothes,” Roberts said.

Roberts stressed that she wanted to center the show on the audience.

“We are trying to make sure the audience sees themselves not just sitting there watching the models but imaging themselves in the clothes,” Roberts said.

Adrian Claveria, philosophy senior, hosted the show and said he loved the spotlight segment where fashionable audience members walked the runway. He said it was a way to acknowledge their effort at “looking fierce.”

“We wanted it to be really interactive,” Claveria said.

Along with hosting, Claveria was the models’ coach.

Claveria is no stranger to BSU’s fashion shows. He has modeled and now taken on the role of one of the model coaches. He said his main challenge was critiquing the models without hurting anyone’s feelings.

“I didn’t want to be harsh, but I still wanted them to put their best foot forward, literally,” Claveria said.

Price, who has professionally modeled for NOLA Fashion Week, was still surprised at the improvement of the models in such a short amount of time.

LaMicha Jackson, international business junior, said her favorite part was when the audience members showcased their attire down the runway.

“I thought it was a cool idea to incorporate audience members into the show, which in turn made the whole atmosphere much more lively,” Jackson said.

Jackson said that BSU’s fashion show was pure entertainment and had a lot of audience interaction.She also appreciated that the models were allowed to spotlight their own unique clothing style.

“I really enjoyed the variety of pieces the models wore and the different style ideas chosen by both the stylists and the models – which is rare in the fashion industry,” Jackson said.

Natalie Paul, criminal justice sophomore and BSU president, said three of the vendors canceled the week of due to the Allstar Weekend. Although BSU faced adversity putting on the show, Paul said they made it work and came together fashionably.

Diana Mirfiq can be reached at [email protected]