There’s only one thing better than a food truck roundup on the William Pitt Union Plaza 一 when there’s a fashion show that comes with it.

Pitt’s first-ever Fall Fashion and Food Truck Fest took place Friday, featuring student models, multi-ethnic food trucks and student DJs from WPTS radio station. Students modeled pieces from the University Store, Thriftsburgh and Maggie & Stella’s. Every organization donated a portion of their proceeds from the event to United Way, a national organization dedicated to advancing a community’s access to education, food, income and medical assistance.

Catherine Certo, a sophomore supply chain management and marketing major, participated as a student model during the event. As a member of Pitt’s Fashion Business Association, she came across the opportunity to model for the festival when she attended New York’s Fashion Week.

“I thought it’d be great to get experience doing something I’m passionate about on campus,” Certo said. “I didn’t choose my outfit 一 [models] filled out a form about our style preferences, what kind of like to wear and then [event sponsors] curated the looks for us.”

Certo walked the runway in the middle of the WPU plaza wearing outfits from Maggie and Stella’s Vintage and Lifestyle collections, cheered on by a crowd of Pitt students. She said her favorite look was from the Vintage Collection, which included a long, brown plaid jacket.

“The Vintage Collection from Thirftsburgh was student-curated, so to see other students on campus bring in their old stuff and upcycle it and reuse it and to create looks from it to give to other students, that’s just a great full circle moment,” Certo said. “I was the first one who walked out on the runway, so to walk out and have people cheering you on and saying ‘You look good,’ 一 it just makes things so much more fun and more inviting.” 

While walking down the runway, models threw various new pieces from the University Store out to the audience, such as a knitted Pitt blanket, this year’s Oakland Zoo t-shirt and vintage bags. Between models, puppy raisers from STEP@Pitt walked their service dogs in-training down the runway and showed off some puppy tricks.

Thriftsburgh and the University Store had tents at the event where students could buy clothing pieces and other Pitt merchandise. Many of the University Store’s new sweatshirts cost between $64-72, while Thriftsburgh’s clothing pieces ranged between $2-10.

David DeJong, senior vice chancellor for business and operations at the University, said United Way is an extremely important source of support in the Pittsburgh region and beyond.

“United Way provides direct services to folks in need, but it also supports a network of nonprofits, all throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania,” DeJong said. “I’m on the board of a nonprofit called Auberle 一 they provide services aimed at children and families who are who are struggling to get their lives in a place where they can thrive.”

DeJong added that the University has partnered with United Way for more than 30 years, so the event felt like the perfect way to spread awareness of the organization. United Way has an “e-crisis hotline,” where anyone in need can call for support for any unforeseen circumstances. They provided more than 100,000 responses last year, he said.

“The theme of our campaign is inclusivity,” DeJong said. “We want to get the word out to as many people as possible about the campaign and how different ways to support it, as well as to be supportive.”

The food truck-fashion show combination to benefit United Way was a long-time coming, according to Megan Moser, the University Store’s merchandise manager. While Pitt’s Conference Services and the University Store collaborated on a similar fashion show event outside the University Store in 2019, this was the first time Pitt could host such a large-scale event with food trucks and other vendors.

“My heart is so happy today. All of us who work at the University Store love what we do. We love connecting with the students and making sure that we’re doing our jobs to our best of ability,” Moser said. “We wanted to ensure that we’re incorporating as much student involvement and all of our activities and events.”

Certo said she was touched by the support of her peers when she walked the runway.

“We wanted this event to be super fun, super lively,” Certo said. “With so many students here 一 we’re a big school, but we’re like a big community too. So this is a great way to bring United Way out to the spotlight.”