azygous
adj. single, not existing in pairs
Between the whirlwind of classes, papers and midterms, it's nice to have one night accompanied by fashion and not textbooks. Last night, I was privileged to model for the Penn Fashion Collective's Spring 2015 fashion show, Azygous. With the mantra "fashion is not binary, fashion pushes limits", the Azygous show featured ready-to-wear looks from students and local Philadelphia retailers that defied conventional gender-specific dressing. Out of the four looks I modeled, my favorite ensemble was a design by Penn Engineering student Mandy Liu that featured a long-line vest in grey wool and a navy pinstripe skirt with white leather trim. True to her engineering roots, Liu's tailoring and garment construction was impeccable.
For the show, makeup was kept to the bare minimum - us models only had on foundation, clear lip gloss and concealed eyebrows reminiscent of Marc Jacob's fall 2014 show. Our hair was slicked and pulled back tight into uniform low buns. The show creators had in essence stripped away all the trappings of what it means to be female in our society - the lipstick, the mascara, the long tresses. As alien-like, neotenous and genderless creatures, we were free to exhibit the full spectrum of fashion.
