When a model for the Black Action Society’s annual fashion show strutted down the walkway with… When a model for the Black Action Society’s annual fashion show strutted down the walkway with eight-feet long tree branches harnessed to her waist, she was personifying the vice wrath.

She was one of 60 models who participated in the fashion show, called “Capital Vice,” which brought more than 1,000 people to the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown Hotel Friday night.

Four of the eight local college designers were Pitt students, and about 90 percent of the models attended Pitt. Most of the models were part of Pitt’s Black Action Society who, with the help of other local Pittsburgh colleges, put on the three-hour show.

Brittany Moreland, a Pitt senior and the fashion show’s coordinator and creative director, said the purpose of the annual fashion show is to give student designers — as well as a handful of local businesses — the opportunity to “showcase their clothes and creativity.”

But Moreland made sure to incorporate other aspects into the show. A strong proponent of community service, Moreland and others involved with the production put together literacy packages for underprivileged elementary school students.

The night wasn’t just about community service. For Moreland, it also presented a chance for the event to make up for its 2010 absence. After last year’s show was canceled because of Snowpocalypse, Moreland was set on creating a fashion show to remember.

“I had been a model in the show since my freshman year, and I remember how much of an impact being a part of the show had on me. I had a vision to make this an awesome experience for everyone involved,” Moreland said.

She said the experience gave her self-confidence, friendship and a creative outlet outside of schoolwork.

“I wanted to showcase an array of clothing styles, both diverse and unique, having the ability to appeal to any and every student in the audience,” Moreland said of this year’s show. “I chose Capital Vice in [an] effort to capture drastically different moods and still have a cohesive production,”

Each designer represented one of six vices Moreland chose — wrath, technology, greed, pride, lust and envy — through their designs.

Clothing wasn’t the only outlet used in illustration.

Each model strutted with a distinctive attitude, some lightly shoving the other models on the runway, others adding an extra hip pop to their final pose.

During the technology portion of the show, models dressed in mostly white, with CDs attached to their clothes.

“The robotic and blank stares in the show exemplifies how technology rules our society with social networking, forcing us to be out of touch with real humans and human interaction,” Moreland said.

When models interpreted greed, they walked the runway wearing stereotypical “high status” clothing, such as large fur coats.

African-inspired designs conveyed the pride experienced by black communities throughout history.

“[The pride scene] showed a condensed version of the patterns of pride in the black community. Starting in the continent of Africa, fast-forwarding to American black pride and the Black Panther movement and ending today,” Moreland said.

Through Moreland’s careful planning, each vice was distinct and distinguishable from the others.

“I wanted to ensure that envy and greed were completely different. I made the entire [envy scene] green. All clothing was green except the people who were being envied, who wore green and gold. Around them circulated attitudes and tension from models who wanted to be like the people who wore gold,” Moreland said.

The clothes on the catwalk ranged from weekend-casual to fashion-forward extreme. There were dresses, skirts and an outfit fitted with branches, resembling a peacock.

In between each designer’s “vice,” several dancers from a local Pittsburgh dance troupe took to the runway for a short performance.

“I wanted to have other forms of creative expression in effort to set the ambiance for the scenes,” Moreland said. “Also, to give models time to change clothes and makeup backstage.”

Meshael Jones, a sophomore who attended the event, said that she thought the models, designers and dancers were all amazing and that the show went beyond her expectations.

“I like the whole performance aspect,” junior Marqui Lyons said. “It’s the total package.”

The amateur models stared straight ahead while stomping down the runway with swagger. The audience cheered and shouted the names of the models as each one struck a pose at the end of the runway.

The 60 student models were narrowed down from the 200 who auditioned last October.

Moreland and the fashion show committee — which was comprised of four Black Action Society board members — aimed to provide students with the opportunity to be models in hopes of building confidence and boosting self image. Moreland said there was no size discrimination when choosing models.

By practicing twice a week since November, the models grew skillful enough to garner the audience’s notice.

“You can tell it was worked on for a while,” sophomore Brianna Latimore said.