College Life
Eleganza 2009: Harvard Students Turn Up the Heat
By Samia K. Arthur-Bentil
Summer 2009
Freeze College Magazine was ecstatic to be a co-sponsor of Eleganza 2009 and, on April 25th, the annual event showed prefrosh just how hot Harvard is.
The Eleganza Fashion Show, organized annually by BlackCAST, is a permanent favorite of Harvard's Prefrosh Weekend and more than lived up to expectations this year. Held in the Lavietes Pavilion, Eleganza 2009 completely succeeded in putting on an evening of the perfect combination of talent, beauty and imagination for its audience and made for a hot, both temperature and otherwise, show.
Dream. Nightmare. Awake. These three very distinct mental states were the creative scenes for Eleganza 2009's amazingly creative amazing show and, while it showcased the pieces of some amazing designers like Jack Willis and BCBGeneration, the cohesiveness between the styles and the scenes was exemplary. For me, Eleganza's principles on not isolating fashion from other arts are definitely what pushed these themes from appreciable to sensational, as everything from the impressive choreography to the stunning models of all ethnicities to the blaring pop hits put the audience in the right vibe.
The Dream scene brought back childhood memories in an unconventional way with its 'Alice in Wonderland' theme. Complete with high jumping hip-hop bunnies, a Lady Marmalade-replete Queen of Hearts and other motifs from the children's story, the show changed it up by coupling the comfortably familiar with the intriguingly bizarre. Stunning dresses, fun choreo and vibrant colors abound, a highlight of the scene was definitely the masked gentlemen in boxers! Overall, the show got off to an awesome start.
While less reminiscent of childhood, the Nightmare scene was just as genius as Dream with its visual descent into eerie, but intriguing scenarios. Moving from a circus to a dominatrix encounter and beyond, the scene kept the audience immersed in intricate dance choreography that both augmented the perception of the designer items and turned up the entertainment. And while the occasional blood-curdling scream was heard, the atmosphere was way more exciting than terrifying—which I'm sure is what the director was gunning for.
Awake, the ultimate state of consciousness, was not overshadowed by its less mentally concrete counterparts and was a scene that brought the best part of our waking hours to the runway. While I thought the opening scenario with the show's dreamer waking up with two women in his bed was hilarious, the shopping and clubbing scenes had an equal amount of fun with a good amount of theatrics and high-energy dance. However, the pièce de la résistance, in my opinion, was a showstopper of a back flip off the stage by a model and was a perfect way to end such a killer show.
Eleganza's producers also succeeded in lining up some stellar student performances to open and close out the fashion show. The beauty and energy of Indian film dance burst from the Bollywood performance from Ghungroo. The vibrant smiles of the dancers and the precision of their moves was a solid start to the evening. Likewise, the BMF Step Team rounded out the show in an impressive display of energy and 'swag' that heated up the audience with flips, jumps and other equally fabulous demonstrations of male strength. In the face of all this quality entertainment, one downside was the absence of the rap artist Fabolous' performance. However, while I know fans like myself were disappointed by his late arrival, the rest of the Eleganza 2009 was not overshadowed—it was too mind-blowing for that. I simply loved the show and I know I am definitely not alone.
Freeze College Magazine would love to extend huge congratulations to the executive producers, directors, technical staff and models of Eleganza 2009!!! Marvelous job, guys!!!
