Ryerson’s school of fashion will be hosting STOIC 2014, a student-run event showcasing work by fashion students Thursday evening.
STOIC is run by the fashion promotions class, which is made up of mostly third-year fashion communications students. The runway and photo exhibit will explore the philosophy of stoicism, considered a traditional trait of masculinity. Stoic means to be indifferent to pain and pleasure.
“Initially we wanted to do a menswear runway show, but then (we thought) why do just males when we can have female models playing the juxtaposition of stoicism?” said Cathy Nguyen, a third-year fashion communications student and producer of STOIC.
The show will explore themes surrounding masculinity, femininity and androgyny (a mix of male and female characteristics), in terms of females wearing men’s clothing, she said.
Nguyen and her team made a callout for garments to all fashion design students and chose items that fit the show’s criteria. They began preparing for the event in early September.
Dimitar Dangov, a third-year fashion design student, will be showing two of his designs at STOIC. “I think my design’s esthetic fits their criteria because it is very minimal,” he said of his simple tailored designs with a slight menswear twist.
The photo exhibit, however, is not necessarily themed around stoicism. The exhibit features portraits by third-year fashion communications students in the art direction for photography course.
The show acts as an experiment for the class to see how well they can work together as a group, she said. This is especially important as they are also responsible for planning Mass Exodus in 2015, Ryerson’s school of fashion’s annual fashion show.
“As producer I’m trying to get my team members to excel at what they do. So I do hope some issues come up and that will really test the students and see how they can improve their own methodology,” said Nguyen, who refers to STOIC as their “mini show”.
The event is also an opportunity to showcase the students’ talent to people in the community and industry so they can have a taste of what Ryerson has to offer, she says.
Dangov agrees. “It’s important to support Toronto’s Fashion Community. It’s for Ryerson, but I think it’s also for Toronto in general.”
He says there is a lack of designers in Toronto and so having people come and show their support will motivate designers to produce more work.
Tickets are sold out online and limited tickets will be available at the door. The runway show begins at 8:30 p.m.
Reporter at The Ryersonian. Interests include fashion and lifestyle.
Jessica graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 2015.