Fabulous Fashion Et Cetera

On May 3, Fashion Et Cetera hosted its spring show, “Gardens of Babylon.” Arriving at Collis around 7:50pm, I was stunned to find a line extending from the front of Collis Underground back to the stairwell. Eager fashionistas were jostled and jockeyed, anxious that the event space would reach capacity. Luckily, Collis Common Ground is even bigger than it looks; everyone was able to get in (I know, because I was at the back of the line). Upon entering, whimsical electro music hummed as Sheba prepared to perform and people found their seats or a spot to stand. Looking up, I saw flowers hanging from the rafters: white, pink, red—didn’t they host the Valentine’s Day show last term? 

Speakig of the last show, there was no Carpool this time. I guess Kathryn took to heart my last piece, in which I noted the awkwardness of transitions due to tuning mid-show. Regardless, Carpool was not necessary to make Collis Common Ground standing-room only. One can only conjecture as to whether this dramatic increase in student demand and attendance is attributable to a newfound aesthetic sensibility or the advertisement of champagne at the event. I’ll let the reader be the judge! In any event, Fashion Et Cetera was not going to let its attendance drink on an empty stomach; Hors d’oeuvres were up for grabs. Curiously, they remained untouched, revealing Dartmouth students’ preference to drink on an empty stomach. 

While the bubbly might have been a pull factor, I didn’t notice any students drinking and ditching. Instead, they were mesmerized by Sheba’s opening performance. Dressed in form-fitting white crop tops and mint green skirts, the Sheba dancers all could have walked the runway—and some did! Chelsea-Starr Jones ’23 deserves particular praise for her flawless dancing and jaw-dropping modeling, both of which justify the second part of her first name. Sheba danced to several remixes, one of which was Rihanna’s “Work,” which was disorienting and then killer. In another remix, the bass dropped to “it’s getting hot in here.” Fitting, given Sheba’s salacious choreography and the anemic air conditioning in Collis. 

Shortly before the models started strutting their stuff, Sydney ’24 informed me that Battle of the Bands  had fewer people than were in attendance at the fashion show—a serious, straightlaced investigative journalist from The D should get to the bottom of this egregious disparity. Shout-out to Sydney for the scoop and for letting me spectate the performance from the DJ’s box! As Sheba concluded their stellar performance, a band (I don’t recall which of our talented student ensembles it was, but it was definitely not Carpool) began playing Britney Spears. 

Dressed in burgundy, orange, red, and tangerine, Fashion Et Cetera’s litany of models began to march. Every single model exhibited striking beauty, men as well as women, and donned professional poker faces. The features of some of the models were so sharp that, if somebody had told me they were professional models, I would have believed it without a moment’s hesitation. One female model wore a bright orange blazer and … nothing under it. Quite avant-garde, but she absolutely pulled off the look. Several male models were partially or completely shirtless and had me questioning … the efficacy of my own exercise regimen. 

All jokes aside, the models were ubiquitously angelic. The men had swagger, the women elegance. Despite the uniformity of their beauty, the applause had an inconsistent quality to it, which made me scream awkwardly and wildly for those met with insufficiently raucous applause, as well as my personal friends, many of whom were performing. (Yes, my reporting is entirely biased; I’m also friends with the organizer, hostess, and fabulous, fearless leader of Fashion Et Cetera, Kathryn Kurt.) 

Kathryn closed the show by thanking everyone, “so, so much for coming” and notifying all that champagne would be served for thirty more minutes. Needless to say, people stuck around.