Choosing fabrics and frantically organizing models is turning into just another day for Wharton and College sophomore Charlene Ong and other members of Penn's Dzine 2 Show fashion club.
With their first-ever runway show planned for this Friday, Ong -- along with other club coordinators -- are hectically piecing the student-run show together.
"We've been working like crazy and running all over town to ensure the show will run smoothly," Ong says. "Some of our seamstresses fell through, some couldn't do it, so I've been contacting all these people within the past few weeks trying to make sure that we'll have a fully running fashion show."
The show -- which will be held in Houston Hall's Hall of Flags -- will feature the designs of six student members from the club, as well as fashions by Ralph Lauren, Charlie's Jeans and various local boutiques.
The nearly 50 club members are involved in all aspects of fashion, ranging from the design to the production element, depending upon their interests.
Dzine 2 Show's mission is to provide an opportunity for all students interested in the fashion industry, and the group draws members from almost all of Penn's schools.
"I have a strong interest in fashion, and I thought it would be a fun club to join and would act as an outlet from solely academic interests," Engineering sophomore Danielle Kuchinskas says. Kuchinskas also acts as the club's modeling co-chairwoman and was responsible for auditioning the show's models, who are all Penn students.
The club is the brainchild of co-presidents Wharton sophomore Ebele Mora and Ong.
The two were up late one night at the end of the fall 2002 semester studying for a Finance 103 final.
But instead of focusing on the exam, the subject of conversation turned to their interests in fashion and how none of the already established Wharton clubs held their interest.
From there the idea spawned to create Penn's first fashion club for people with interests in all fields within the fashion industry.
"It's important that you differentiate between people who are fashionable and then people who are actually interested in design, production and the industry," Ong says. "That was really important to me. This isn't the Prada bag club."
The two founders started promoting Dzine 2 Show through flyers and began to interview individuals interested in the club to see what their specific interests were.
From there the club branched into various committees -- with Ong more involved in the creative side as a director, while Mora acted as a producer and dealt with the business logistics of the club.
"I see it like a mixing of the right brain and left brain," Mora adds. "A combination that really works."
Mora -- who has always had an interest in producing shows and dreams to one day own her own clothing store -- says that she is pleased with the growth of the club in the past year and a half.
"What's really amazing is that we did it all by ourselves," she says. "We don't have any faculty advisers. We're just a group of students interested in fashion that recognized that Penn has no resources for students interested in fashion, so as a club, we set out to do that."
While Dzine 2 Show has focused primarily around the production of their upcoming exposition, the club also provides opportunities to learn more about careers in fashion and has sponsored trips to Fabric Row in Philadelphia and other fashion venues in New York City.
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