Black Action Society holds annual fashion show this weekend

Trendy patterns and multiple personalities will rock the runway this Saturday at the 2010… Trendy patterns and multiple personalities will rock the runway this Saturday at the 2010 Annual Black Action Society Fashion Show.

This year’s theme, Alter Ego, was inspired by Mississippi photographer Derek Blanks’ volume of work.

His gallery showcases celebrities, from singer Monica to comedian/TV personality Mo’Nique to the cast of Bravo’s Real Housewives of Atlanta, each with their own contrasting personas.

The BAS Fashion Show will take ideas from Blanks’ photography and incorporate them into a series of scenes to make up the fashion show. To correspond with the theme, the scenes of the show are showcased in pairs.

The BAS Fashion Show Committee, headed by this year’s creative director, Candice Rollinson, created this concept.

BAS executive board appointed Rollinson when the previous fashion show directors resigned because of “creative differences.”

When asked to step up as creative director, Rollinson had mixed feelings.

“I was flattered, but I was also nervous,” she said.

Rollinson would have four months to put together a production scheduled to take an entire year to plan.

Despite the odds against her, Rollinson accepted the challenge.

Since then, Rollinson, along with technical director Shaina Ramsey and a crew of three other girls, came together to compose a masterpiece in a short amount of time.

Rollinson’s vision for the show kept some aspects from the previous directors’, but she insists that the concept of the show is totally different.

“I wanted the fashion show to be more interactive,” Rollinson said. “I want the audience to leave the show with more than just having watched a fashion show,” she said, describing her concept of leaving the finale open ended.

This will allow the audience members to raise questions about themselves — questions they wouldn’t have asked before having viewed the fashion show.

BAS President Jahmaiah Lewis is proud of what the show has become.

“The fashion show is one of our crucial programs because students really look forward to it every year, and they support us in huge numbers,” she said.

Lewis didn’t want to disappoint her fellow students this year.

Through the setbacks and stumbles, Rollinson, her committee and her team of models pulled through just in time.

“[BAS] has put together a great production,” Lewis said.

She guaranteed that everyone’s hard work will certainly pay off on Saturday night.

The fashion show doesn’t feature a designer this year. Instead, the 45 or so models will wear the latest trends from fashion forward stores, a few vintage pieces and styles from a featured boutique.

“They will also be wearing a few of their own pieces to add a personal twist to the looks,” Lewis said.

Rollinson, a senior pharmacy major, said that fashion is “just a hobby.” The leadership and communication skills she’s learned in the process are the biggest things she’ll take away from organizing this fashion show.

“I accepted [my position as creative director] because I believed that I could do the job effectively,” Rollinson said.

She is thankful to the BAS executive board, her fellow committee members and the models for their hard work and effort.

“In true BAS fashion, we all pulled together to work it out,” she said.