A fashion show can do more than showcase style; it can spotlight the realities behind what we wear and how it is manufactured, what we purchase, and invite a campus community to take action.
On April 23, CU Denver students presented S.E.W. - Sustainable Ethical Wear - a student-created fashion show and protest event at the Emmanuel Art Gallery as part of Performance Art Week.
Over Spring term 2026, a group of multi-disciplinary CU Denver students worked hard to develop this highly creative protest event aimed at raising awareness of the detrimental impacts of the global fast-fashion industry. Our S.E.W. team created fashion designs from donated and second-hand materials that interpreted the industry’s most harmful impacts concerning human exploitation, climate change, environmental and waterways pollution, labor issues affecting women and children specifically, and the costs of unrestricted consumerism.
Each of these issues were portrayed through textiles, via shape, color, texture, visual rhetoric, sculpture, and movement. The show closed with “Curated Combinations,” a final act featuring up-cycled and thrifted outfits that modeled more sustainable and individualized ways to dress.
Audience members participated in a sewing activity aimed at promoting basic sewing skills, such as repairing one’s own clothing.
What S.E.W. Aimed To Change
S.E.W. asked a direct question: What does it take to build a more sustainable and ethical relationship with clothing?
The show encouraged the CU Denver community to:
- Support small businesses and local makers
- Shop secondhand and extend the life of clothing
- Try basic repair skills instead of replacing items
- Collaborate across disciplines through creative production
- Experiment with personal style in ways that reduce waste
Audience members were wowed by the creative designs by student team lead members: Ariana Williams, Liliana Diaz-Cortinas, Hannah Stringfellow, and Anya Flores-McDowell. Dr. Lorna Hutchison and CSU collaborator and Fashion and Merchandising student, Maya Driskell, also contributed designs.
Additional key contributors included: undergraduate students Abril Rodriguez Orduna (team lead member), Astrid Villalobos Chavez (slide show creator), Antonette Wismer, Nakita Locklear, and Interdisciplinary Studies Program graduate student collaborators Haley Witt, Violet Stoudt, and Caroline Bowden; each were key to the success of this endeavor.
The organizational and creative breadth of our S.E.W. team-lead undergraduate students did not cease to impress and amaze: they undertook each challenge, developed skills in a wide range of areas, and formed a bond through our sewing workshops that will remain with all of us. This group of students put every piece of this complex event together, from a successful grant application to a S.E.W. Instagram account, to the significant academic research conducted on the global textile industry that informed the designs, to the designs themselves and their complex construction.
Their work reflects CU Denver’s hands-on, career-relevant learning in action: ambitious ideas, built through teamwork, persistence, and craft.
Community Partners Who Made The Event Possible
S.E.W. also highlighted what becomes possible when students, schools, and community partners build something together.
Thank you to the volunteer models who generously gave their time, including participants from:
- Arapahoe Community College
- Colorado State University
- MSU Denver
- East High School
- South High School
- And other community members and participating schools
Additional thanks to:
- DJ Danny Acree
- Photographer Paul Wedlake
- Andrew Palamara at Emmanuel Art Gallery
- Hayden Dollinger (Usher-Jester)
- Partner nonprofits and businesses who donated second-hand clothing and sewing supplies
- Campus community members who donated clothing, remnants, and supplies
Financial support for S.E.W. was provided by:
- Center for Access and Campus Engagement (ACE Event Grant)
- Department of English
- Political Science Department
- Interdisciplinary Studies Program
Thank you Emmanuel Art Gallery for making our campus such a unique and creative center, and for including us in Performance Art Week!
