Student Union Activities have found success in its version of the fashion design competition Project Runway at the University of Kansas. In its third year, more than 30 contestants entered in the preliminary competition. Only five teams made it to the final competition where their work was showcased in front of more than 600 people.
But even now, a month after the competition has been over, some of the contestants who spent hours on their creations are upset.
Many of the participants are concerned because the preliminary competition, which took place at the end of September, was judged by SUA's cultural arts committee; none of whom had taken any design classes.
"I definitely saw really good things that didn't make the finals," said Bonnie Croisant, Humboldt senior and winner of this year's competition. "I think it would have been a much more interesting show if there had been better competition."
Croisant won with her designs to the three final challenges: a music inspired piece, a University of Kansas inspired piece, and an Asian inspired piece.
Beatrice Bonanno, Brooklyn, NY senior, entered the preliminary competition but did not make it to the finals. She believes that because the people judging the preliminary competition did not have a background in design that they hadn't thought through the first challenge, making a design out of a paper bag.
"I know how fabric works. The quality of a paper bag doesn't reflect any skill," Bonanno said. "The nature of paper is very different from the nature of fabric. You work with it in a different way and they didn't realize that."
Croisant believes if SUA had assembled a panel of design students as the preliminary round judges that they would have been more qualified.
"If some of the people that didn't make it had made it, the show would have much better represented the potential at KU," Croisant said.
While the design students involved are taking the competition seriously, Grace Sha, Wichita junior, and chair of SUA's cultural arts committee, said the event was more of a fun event for them.
"It's getting bigger and there's been talk about making it more serious," she said. "We do it for the entertainment side of things. We like to have all walks of life and the KU community involved."
Josiah Earle, Topeka senior, was a finalist with his partner Lauren Fallis, and he felt that the biggest problem was lack of communication and miscommunication. He said the closer the competition got, the more confusing it became. Even on the day of the competition, the stylists were telling them to have the models at the salon, and SUA was telling them to have the models at the Union.
"I just tried to remember it was student run and that they aren't professionals yet," he said.
Croisant recalls the competition being unorganized. She received confusing e-mails with instructions and then she would get a second e-mail that said to disregard the other information. The competitors also got the schedule for the show two days before.
Sha admits there were organization issues, but most were out of her control. The problems included more press than anticipated as well as more people attending than were expected, and more than the Kansas Union Ballroom could hold.
"We didn't quite get a full dress rehearsal so we had some kinks, but that's not really something we could control because the Union is used by everyone," Sha said. "Everyone who talked to me afterward really enjoyed it though."
Sha was not aware that some of the competitors were upset with the judging. While the decision of who judges next year will belong to someone else she said she would be interested to hear from students with recommendations.
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