Strutting down the runway

For College seniors and designers Aejie Rhyu and Claudia Zhao, Friday's Vis-a-Vis fashion show was a chance to finally exhibit their hard work.

The two said they hope to eventually develop their own clothing line, and for last week's show, they had to put together designs within four weeks.

"We try to take certain elements of the Chinese and Korean cultural wear and adopt it in our style," Zhao said of their clothing line.

The fashion show, which was held at 8 p.m. in the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall and lasted for approximately two hours, began with runway models wearing traditional cultural dress from Asian countries.

Afterward, clothing from various other Asian-American designers, including Enyce, Sandy Dalal, Claude Juang and students Rhyu and Zhao, were on display for the public.

The show was the final event of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, which has been a well-attended Penn tradition for 10 years.

Fashion show coordinators and College seniors Jennifer Choi, Cindy Hwang and Lily Shu said they hoped that the show would serve the purposes of APAHW, as well as some of their own purposes.

Hwang said the fashion show organizers intended to "showcase Asian-American designers and show their success."

"The fashion show was also a different way of educating people and making them aware of Asian-American issues," Choi added.

According to the coordinators, the Asian-American community at Penn can sometimes be fairly segregated. The show, they claimed, aimed to provide an activity that would bring that diverse community together under the shared identity of Asian-Americans.

The show also brought in a large non-Asian audience.

"The fashion show was not only to unify the Asian-American community, but also the Asian and non-Asian community," Shu said.

This illustrates the purpose of the title Vis-a-Vis, Shu explained.

"The title is French for face-to-face, which symbolizes the convergence of eastern and western cultures," Shu said.

For the coordinators, the show was a success because it not only achieved the goals they initially set, but also drew in a large and eager audience.

According to the coordinators, approximately 300 people attended, and "we even had to turn a lot of people away," Shu said.

"We had an awesome audience this year," Choi added. "They were very excited to be there."

Over 150 people applied to be models, and after two-day auditions, 30 were chosen.

Music for the event was provided by Bassline Productions.

Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Inc., the Asian-interest sorority at Penn, hosted an after-show party at Toto nightclub.

The coordinators unanimously agreed that the show was a lot of work, but Hwang emphatically added that "it was well worth it."

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