Showing off kimonos, traditional Asian marriage dresses and modern clothing, U students walked down the runway during a fashion show Friday in the Union.
Held by the Asian American Student Association, the fashion show was part of Asian American Awareness 2005.
Dana Ngo, AASA awareness chief, said the fashion show’s theme was “Seams of Color.”
“We want to show the importance of color through different cultures,” she said. “We have over 20 models featuring both traditional and modern clothing styles.”
Ngo said that many different ethnicities were featured, including Laotian, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese-“Basically, the cultures we have in AASA,” she said.
Mary Teng, a senior in exercise physiology, said she enjoyed how all the cultures formed together. A model in the show, Teng pleased the crowd by flexing and showing off her biceps while also modeling her traditional clothing.
With the emphasis on color, the master of ceremonies and adviser to AASA, Dashawna Sookvong, gave background on each featured garment color and told of its importance to different cultures.
“Red indicates sexual desire or eroticism,” she said. “Yellow shows spontaneity, communication and hope.”
Aside from the emphasis on color, the fashion show also displayed the differences between modern and traditional clothing by modeling contemporary trends.
Ripped jeans, dress suits, athletic shoes and new-age hairstyles were all on display while hip-hop music was blasted from the surrounding speakers-a significant contrast from the traditional segment of the program.
The audience appeared to particularly enjoy making catcalls to the models, trying to get them to break into smiles and laughs.