After a steady fashion diet of polished clothing parades that followed the professional “rules” of presentation, Washington University’s show was a tasty dessert to end St. Louis Fashion Week.

It was so refreshingly different that most palettes raved about the show, while a few felt that it was too overtly saccharin to be enjoyable. The models smiled and poised and skipped and twirled in complex choreography patterns throughout the show. There were brazen displays of attitude and many curtsies. There was an emphasis on lingering so that more people in the audience could get a proper look before the clothes disappeared through the backstage curtain.

It was not your typical fashion show. Models were coached not to look homogeneous and it wasn’t overly distracting.

I have to agree with Jeigh Singleton, the school’s fashion director, “They are students and so we can get away with anything, because anything they do will be adorable.”

The students are also very talented. A few people noted that the would have been happy if the show had only had the lovely, extravagant showing of ball gowns (which seemed fit for royalty), but since that was only one scene of a very full show, it was even more impressive. The school’s reputation was well represented. (By the way, I saw the show on video, not live.)

The students had to rally to produce the show, because the school’s usual fashion show director couldn’t participate. The school moved the show up 2 months from it’s normal schedule in order to be part of fashion week. So students were hard at work behind-the-scenes instead of holding their usual spots in the audience. Students contributed to every aspect of the show, including securing the DJ (who needs a update his music files) and plans model entrances and exits.

As a result the show was startlingly different and therefore refreshing. Was it the best show of the week? Depends on your perspective, but I’ll wager that if more shows had followed the format, it would not have been so delicious at the end.