IUS students strutted their stuff on a makeshift catwalk in the Hoosier Room on Feb. 2.
The Dress for Success workshop, hosted by Career Services, featured eight students modeling proper professional attire from Kohl’s department store on Charlestown Road.
Students took turns walking down a catwalk while the audience was informed about what is appropriate to wear to an interview or in the workplace.
Trey Taurman, accounting senior, modeled a gray suit and striped tie. Behind him, the screen projected photos of him dressed in attire that would be inappropriate to wear to an interview.
Taurman said he was approached by Career Services and asked to model for their show.
“I guess maybe they thought I was good looking, and they wanted me to be a model, I don’t know,” Taurman said with a laugh. “As president of the Accounting Club, we work really closely with Career Services, so I hear about all these events that are coming up.”
Taurman said that he and his fellow models didn’t have much time to prepare for the event.
“We did not practice, so what you saw was the real deal,” he said. “We did have to go to Kohl’s about a week ago, and we had to try on suits for an hour or two, but that’s really all the prep-time we really had.”
Taurman said the movie “Zoolander” was his inspiration for the walk.
Taurman said Career Services has done a lot for the campus by pointing students toward opportunities coming up in this recuperating economy.
A slideshow played before the fashion walk, giving students advice for their interview outfits.
“Sixty percent of job candidates fail to get selected for a position because of their lack of professional appearance alone,” according to the slideshow. “Your appearance should send a clear, consistent message about who you are, what you have to offer and where you want to go.”
James Kanning, director of Career Services, said he thinks the workshop turned out really well.
Kanning said Career Services wanted to do something new this year to attract attention and give students a better visual for dressing well.
“We’ve always done Dress for Success workshops, but we thought ‘What could we do to make it more dramatic and perhaps something that would give some visuals so that students can really see what we’re talking about,’” Kanning said. “We just started brainstorming, and we said ‘Wouldn’t it be neat to get some students on campus who were involved in different organizations who’d be willing to be models for us, and they can invite their friends from the different organizations, and we can publicize it.’”
Kanning said they had tried to do similar events in the past but had trouble finding a retailer to supply the clothing for the show. This year, Kohl’s was willing to accept the challenge.
“Kohl’s bent over backward for us,” Kanning said. “They were wonderful. We threw it together on a shoe string. We had no budget for this, but we got people from campus who volunteered, so it really worked out well.”
By MICHELE HOP
Staff
mhop@ius.edu