African American Textile Society Puts on 27th Annual Fashion Exposé

The annual African American Textile Society (AATS) Fashion Exposé is one of the most anticipated events of the spring semester. The show features handmade collections by students from NC State and surrounding colleges in a runway style competition. 

“The mission is to give more visibility to designers here as well as designers from different schools,” AATS Fashion Show Chair Yanni Robinson says.

The Fashion Exposé is the longest running fashion show at NC State and is hosted by AATS, a student organization at the Wilson College of Textiles. This year, AATS partnered with the Black Students Board to hold the show during Pan African Week so that both events could reach wider audiences.

“AATS is a safe place for minority students to come and experience professional development programs, club programs and events, as well as social outreach,” AATS Vice President Andrianna Hodges says.

Planning for the show began all the way back in October. From recruiting the designers to securing a venue and judges, the AATS board puts in hours of hard work to make this event a reality.

The designers involved also spend months designing and crafting their collections. With the first designers’ meeting held in December, these students had only four months to bring their collections to life while continuing their classwork and other day-to-day obligations. 

“I am really excited and grateful that we get the opportunity to do this, because it was a really good experience, and it’s something that I think is great for both me personally and my career going forward,” fashion design student Neely Mallik says. 

Choosing the winning collections

Three experienced industry professionals – William Carter Jr., Ashley Davis and Stephen Satterfield – judged this year’s competition. They evaluated designers in the following categories to determine the winners: design construction, design appearance, creativity, collection cohesiveness and overall presentation.

Six total awards were given out to celebrate the first, second and third place winners in both the novice and intermediate categories. In addition to the prestige of a Fashion Exposé win, each of the top three finalists in the novice and intermediate categories took home scholarships. 

“This event brings recognition to students who want to propel their experience and gain more exposure,” Hodges says.

Meredith College student Serena Denali won first place in the intermediate category.

The first-place prize in the novice category was awarded to Neely Mallik, a sophomore majoring in fashion and textile design with a concentration in fashion design. Mallik based her collection on different places she has traveled. Each dress she sent down the runway represented a different city.

“I took inspiration from each city’s architecture, their history, their fashion and just the overall vibe of those places and how I felt when I was there,” Mallik says. “After putting so much work into it over the entire semester, it was a cool moment to be able to see the whole collection together.”