Female students trying to prepare for internship interviews were able to calm their wardrobe fears Tuesday night, as 24 Wharton Women models helped define the meaning of "business casual" for eager attendees.
The show, which was held in Houston Hall, featured fashions from Lord & Taylor, Jones New York and Nine West and was organized into three themes: business formal, business casual and evening gowns for cocktail parties.
Models waited behind a curtain in Bodek Lounge before posing in front of the audience.
While the business formal collection featured many of the more traditional black pant suits and skirts, it also ventured out of the classics and presented a variety of attires in colors ranging from hot pink to apple green.
The business casual portion of the show aimed to clarify the ambiguity of this most commonly cited dress code. The show defined the style through outfits that ranged from capri dress pants topped with a gray jacket, to a simple red sweater matched with a flowery knee-length skirt.
All of the clothes presented were outfitted by the students in the club, who began organizing the event about a month ago by soliciting various clothing stores.
The show was upbeat with its hip-hop background music and stylized with heavy stage make-up, but also gave attendees practical insights on what to wear in different occasions.
"It was really professionally done," College sophomore Erica Lederman said.
Organizers believe the show was successful despite minimal training for the student models.
The show started at eight, "we started [rehearsing] at five," said Cara Hoy, a participating model and Wharton freshman.
The annual show was initiated five years ago by coordinators in Wharton Women, who felt a need to "give [women] an idea of what to wear" in different occasions, said Katie Prada, a Wharton sophomore and event organizer. Furthermore, it was often "hard to distinguish the difference between [styles such as] business formal and business casual."
