Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium April 12, 2025.
Over the weekend, The Fashion Show 2025 drew a crowd of thousands to Stephen's Auditorium on the Iowa State University campus, where a curated lineup of 70 models showcased bold, innovative designs to thumping house music.
Behind the whimsical, minimalist “Dreamscape” set and full-length catwalk stretching out into the 2,600-seat, nearly sold-out auditorium, quiet chaos took place. Designers ushered models with teased hair and blue eyeshadow into quick changes while team leads with clipboards marched the space, whispering directions. But there were no adults over the age of 22 to be spotted amid the bustling bodies flitting between racks of clothes and squeezing into corsets. Every aspect of the show, from its designs and models to its technical operation, marketing and promotion, is executed entirely by ISU students.
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Student designer Roy Barron, a junior in apparel merchandising and design, helps his model into one of the night's looks.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Models began arriving for hair and makeup around 10 a.m. on the day of the show.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place April 12, 2025 at Stephens Auditorium.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place April 12, 2025 at Stephens Auditorium.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place April 12, 2025 at Stephens Auditorium.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Students add fashion tape and make last-minute adjustments the night of the show.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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As chaos continues behind the scenes, students from The Fashion Show PR team hand out the night's program, designed by the student design team, to guests ahead of the show.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place April 12, 2025 at Stephens Auditorium.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place April 12, 2025 at Stephens Auditorium.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place April 12, 2025 at Stephens Auditorium.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
What began in 1982 as a small-scale classroom presentation has become one of the nation’s largest student-produced fashion shows, and it hasn't skipped a beat, even during the pandemic, when the show took place outdoors in the Reiman Gardens.
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In Ames' Stephens Auditorium, student stage managers orchestrate everything from the models to the music as the 2025 show gets underway.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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In Ames' Stephens Auditorium, student stage managers orchestrate everything from the models to the music as the 2025 show gets underway.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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In Ames' Stephens Auditorium, student stage managers orchestrate everything from the models to the music as the 2025 show gets underway.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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In Ames' Stephens Auditorium, student stage managers orchestrate everything from the models to the music as the 2025 show gets underway.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
The audience this year eagerly applauded nearly 100 design collections and individual pieces, selected by a panel of guest judges from the fashion industry that included notable ISU alumni.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
Models line up for their curtain call on the night of April 12, 2025.
Fifty-seven student designers pulled together what they learned in their classes, which span corsetry, fashion history and patternmaking. They watched from backstage as their designs strutted down the runway.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Apparel Merchandising and Design student Ingrid Kautzman won a sustainability award for one of her looks, Sister Stella — a '60s-style, quilted tent dress paired with a matching purse that she created from reused fabric given to her by her late grandmother.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
A model walks the runway in junior Ingrid Kautzman's Sister Stella look, a '60s-style, which she created from reused fabric given to her by her late grandmother.
"She was a seamstress. She quilted a ton and taught me how to sew when I was in elementary school," Kautzman said. "Once I decided I was going to do fashion as a career, she sent home fabric every time we visited her."
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
Apparel Merchandising and Design student Ingrid Kautzman poses backstage at ISU's The Fashion Show 2025. Her Sister Stella piece won a sustainability award.
The junior initially wasn't interested in going to college at all, but when she toured ISU and learned about its fashion program, she immediately fell in love.
“One of the best decisions I've ever made is to go here for fashion schooling," she insisted.
Over the years, the fashion show has hosted guest designers from major brands like Urban Outfitters, Steve Madden and Nordstrom. This year, underwear brand Parade headlined the event, debuting its newest collection on student models.
ISU's fashion and merchandising program is consistently ranked among the best fashion programs in the country — Vogue listed it among the likes of Parsons and FIT in 2024. The Department of Apparel, Events and Hospitality Management has produced graduates who’ve landed roles at top fashion houses and labels like J. Crew and Marc Jacobs.
The fashion show is tied directly to a semester-long spring class that fills an entire lecture hall, but preparation begins long before. The show's directors are assigned their roles in the fall, and some student designers, like senior Edgar Zaragoza, start sourcing materials and fabric for their collections the summer before school starts.
"I think I spent the whole summer just, like, getting old pairs of pants, or even old suit jackets, and deconstructing them to use that as scrap fabric, because [the collection] was gonna be entirely all patchwear," he said.
His collection, IF NOT NOW THEN WHEN, included a set of black tailored coats inspired by the work of Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
Edgar Zaragoza's collection IF NOT NOW THEN WHEN included a set of black tailored coats inspired by the work of Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto.
The show concludes with a presentation of scholarships and internship opportunities. The top prize of $2,500 went to ISU senior Kai Marais Huntoon, recognized for his collection titled “GOING WEST," which explores his process of grieving his parents' separation through dark, muted tones "punctuated by the vivid crimson and white of the stargazer lily" — their wedding flower.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
Senior Kai Marais Huntoon poses with models wearing his collection “GOING WEST" after winning the night's top prize.
"[It's] about exploring what that means to me and how I feel about the whole situation, but really exploring the grotesque beauty of all of it," he said.
What's next for the students?
"New York is the dream," says senior Owen Abrahamsen, who completed an internship there last summer. His collection, MANIA, explored mental health issues through expressive art-to-wear.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa Public Radio
Senior Owen Abrahamsen addresses the crowd at The Fashion Show 2025.
For others, this is just the beginning of their exploration.
“When I came here, I thought I had to have my identity — your brand identity, your designer identity," said senior Abigail Klauer, who taught herself to sew during the pandemic. "You don’t need to have that. There are so many different ways you can go. I think it’s so jarring to see all these other designers know exactly what they want to do, or at least that’s what you think. This is just what I like right now. It’s gonna change, and this is who I am at the moment.”
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Senior Owen Abrahamsen's collection "MANIA" explored mental health issues through expressive art-to-wear.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Renisha Rana, a business analytics major in her second year at ISU, poses wearing a piece from the "RAW" collection by senior Kai Marais Huntoon.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Senior Abigail Klauer poses with models wearing her collection.
Madeleine Charis King
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Madeleine Charis King / Iowa Public Radio
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Iowa State University students put on one of the largest student-run fashion shows in the country each spring. The Fashion Show 2025 took place at Stephens Auditorium on April 12, 2025.
Josie Fischels is IPR's Arts & Culture Reporter, with expertise in performance art, visual art and Iowa Life. She's covered local and statewide arts, news and lifestyle features for The Daily Iowan, The Denver Post, NPR and currently for IPR. Fischels is a University of Iowa graduate.
