Aggie Fashion Club to host 2022 Sustainable Met Gala Fashion Show

After years of sketching, snipping, and stitching the pieces together, students at New Mexico State University’s Aggie Fashion Club are ready to roll out their creative designs for everyone to see while making a positive environmental impact.

The 2022 Sustainable Met Gala Fashion Show hosted by the Aggie Fashion Club will make its comeback at the NMSU Aggie Lounge in Corbett Center at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 7.

With a mission to upcycle, recycle, and create more sustainability, students put their talents to the test and created designs by utilizing trash bags, shower curtains, newspapers, water bottles, donated fabric, and other items.

“The fashion industry has a history of contributing to some environmental issues all around the world,” said Kelley Coffeen, assistant professor in Family and Consumer Sciences and co-advisor of Aggie Fashion Club. “We have landfills that are full of fast-fashion clothing and not everything is being upcycled, recycled and moving on to a new customer or client. Our students are so creative, but also so concerned – which is why we started this a few years ago."

“The students' ideas are amazing.” said Insook Ahn, assistant professor in Family and Consumer Sciences and co-advisor of Aggie Fashion Club. “They think about how we can save our environment and try not to waste any material. They’re also learning how to manage their time, so through this preparation, they’ll have better experience.”

The goal of the event is to continue striving to protect the environment and apply that to the fashion design industry, but also to educate the community about the importance of sustainability.

“I really want to be a part of this industry so that way I can bring change. I feel like the fashion show allows people to get an inside look at that and gives them a chance to realize where their clothes are coming from,” said Jessica Morales, senior and vice president of Aggie Fashion Club. “A lot of people tend to think ‘I just bought this shirt at a store,’ and that’s it. They don’t know the background of where it comes from, and I think that’s really important. That’s what I really want everyone at this show to realize and open their eyes a little bit more so that way they can understand the story of all our garments.”

The Aggie Fashion Club hosted the first sustainable fashion show in 2019, and after that, they envisioned organizing more shows to follow. However, due to COVID-19, the club had to press pause on hosting the event for two years.

“Now that we are starting to do this, I feel really excited and motivated to finish this project. This time we have the opportunity to make it bigger and different than last time,” said Lara Alvarez, senior and secretary/event planner of Aggie Fashion Club.

This year, there are more students involved in the show and some come from majors outside of fashion merchandising and design. There are 35 designs that will be presented, including some from students who have already graduated.

“Having this fashion show is just a really good creative outlet for students like us to actually showcase our creativity, what we’re passionate about, and it’s really amazing to see a lot of people having that kind of outlet and seeing all of their ideas come to life,” Morales said.

“We have a broad program at New Mexico State. It is fashion merchandising and design, so we do both and it really brings everyone together. It helps foster a great opportunity that they are going to showcase to the campus,” Coffeen said.

The event is free and will run for about two hours.

For more information, contact Alvarez or Coffeen at lara2025@nmsu.edu or kcoffeen@nmsu.edu.