Knauss students highlight fashion with a purpose 

Spencer Bispham / The USD Vista

As morning clouds finally parted last Thursday, the Paseo de Colachis was primed for the Torero Runway: a fashion show benefiting survivors of recent wildfires and the Maui Strong Fund. Seventeen students graced the catwalk in outfits from Fabletics, Forever 21, Express, Madewell, Allsaints, Vuori, American Eagle and Zara, all provided by the event’s sponsor: Fashion Valley Mall. 

The show was conceived from a partnership between the proprietor of Fashion Valley — Simon Property Group — and the Knauss School of Business. However, it was the students of an upper-division USD marketing class whose shared vision strung the whole event together.

Last spring, USD Professor and Department Chair of Marketing Dr. Justine Farrell connected with Fashion Valley representatives at the “Art of Marketing Conference” here in San Diego. It was there that they offered to fund the show in hopes to drive business to the mall, a proposition Farrell was excited to accept. She brought the idea back to the Knauss School, where it turned into an elective course, MKTG 480 advertised directly to marketing students toward the end of the semester.

Although USD regularly participates in outside partnerships,  Farrell noted that the Torero Runway marked a special milestone in her department.

“This is the first time in Marketing — and I think in the Knauss School of Business — that we’ve done such a highly collaborative class with an industry partner,” Farrell said. “This was the first time that it’s been fully funded through our industry partner, fully supported and fully student-led.”

Farrell also acknowledged that the path to these victories wasn’t so easy.

“It’s really hard, and it’s a slog going through it, there’s a lot of stuff that’s not very exciting and not very glamorous,” Farrell admitted. “It’s been more work than the students anticipated; I’ve pushed them harder and had more expectations than if it were another class. [But] I know that day-of, when they see that stage erected and they see the students taking their seats and all of those pieces come into place, I’m so excited to watch them feel so proud of themselves.”

To conquer these challenges, students were divided into different teams, like public relations, branding, finance and fashion styling based on their personal interests and background. Each team was composed of 3-5 members who began their respective duties in mid-August, just a little over a month before the show’s debut.

USD junior and Marketing/Visual Arts double major Skyla Setzler described her role working with the styling team to choose the models’ outfits, beginning nearly two weeks before the start of classes.

“We started the class early, and she [Dr. Farrell] was like, ‘hey, go to these stores,’ so we met up and kind of divided and conquered,” Setzler said. “I took care of Madewell’s outfits, I also helped with the women’s  Allsaints outfit, Fabletics men’s, Vuori and

Forever 21 men’s and women’s.” Setzler also mentioned that although some of the selection process occurred in person, many of the clothes  seen in the show were ordered from the brands’ websites.

“We took a lot of liberties with the e-commerce stuff, because in-store they change out their merch every week,” Setzler said. “The goal was to get stuff from the store so you could actually leave the fashion show at the end and go buy it, but with the way things work, we were just like, ‘let’s do it all online, people will get the gist.’”

Setzler went on to explain that she and the other stylists asked their friends to walk in the show as the result of a time crunch. They were allowed to choose from a variety of garments, all marked on a spreadsheet, pending approval at the dress rehearsal one week before the show. This allowed each of their looks to be tailored — figuratively and literally — to each of their personalities.

Although the models were front and center during the show, they were not the only ones whose work was on display. Students from other teams brought in Fashion Valley restaurants to cater the event, checked in guests, named raffle prize winners and managed the mob of onlookers that accumulated throughout the afternoon. In order to make these elements feel cohesive, the class thought it would be best to unite the theme of the event around Changemaking: a central part of the university’s identity. In this case, they settled on donating to a charitable organization, the Maui Strong Fund, which was established by the Hawai’i Community Foundation to benefit survivors of the recent Maui wildfires and their recovery.

 USD senior Meghan Mokhtarian worked on the public relations team and explained the choice to include Changemaking in the proceedings. 

“We decided it would be a good idea to donate all the proceeds from this event to a current event issue,” Mokhtarian said. “A student in the class volunteered the Maui Strong Fund and we felt like it really aligned with a lot of the ideas of USD and the Knauss School of Business…[like] the opportunity to get real world experience and help out when you can.”

With so many moving pieces, some students in the class found themselves with a lot to keep track of. USD senior and Marketing major Shayla Rodriguez, who worked on the class’ branding team, was responsible for everything from choosing font sizes to working the check-in booth at the event itself.

“I definitely underestimated how hard it was,” Rodriguez said. “I think when people do fashion shows, you kind of just look into all the fashion, but it’s definitely way more than that, it’s more about the music, the entertainment, the tickets and [other] stuff.”

Rodriguez went into more depth about how the experience affected the students as a whole. 

“I think our class got way closer to one another,” Rodriguez said. “Even though we were all working on different things, we were all working toward one goal, which was the end of this… every team put in a lot of hours and thought everything out, [and] we raised over $850 for Maui, which was always the goal.”

As of now, the partnership between the USD Knauss School of Business and Simon Property Group stands, which led Rodriguez and others to think that the class will be offered again. 

Those interested in marketing, fashion and the like can check in next semester to see about details for the next Torero Runway.