Students ready to 'bloom' at Vêtement de Rue

The third annual Vêtement de Rue fashion show is set to take the runaway by storm on March 29 at the Moss Arts Center. This year the theme is “Bloom,” and student work will project the idea of a grand transformation.  

“With this year’s theme you'll see transitions from more like traditional workwear, whether that's like blue collar workwear or white collar workwear, and then transitioning into high fashion,” said co-founder Luis Kruger, a 2023 graduate who earned a degree in fashion merchandising and design.

In addition to the fashion, the show itself incorporates different multimedia elements that work together to tell a story.

“How the show does that is it is split between models walking in and film playing. The film tells the story in terms of the actual clothing itself. The whole thing is about using all these different elements in telling the story,” said Brandon Kong, co-founder, videographer, and 2023 graduate in neuroscience.

Kruger, Kong, and co-founder Andrew Rodgers, a senior in mechanical engineering, have led the Vêtement de Rue crew through two successful fashion shows, the 2022 show being the most attended fashion show held at the Moss Arts Center. Like the founders, the participants come from all different majors. For many, this fashion show provides a creative outlet in their day-to-day lives.  

“I'm a criminology major, so I don't really get to tap into that different side of myself where I'm getting to venture out and tap into my creative side and just kind of get back into doing the things I love,” said Bryanna Taylor, a sophomore majoring in criminology and psychology.  

The Vêtement de Rue (VDR) mission is to create unified projects to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to represent Virginia Tech culture. 

“We try to get the largest like subsection of the Virginia Tech population as we can. There are people that are connected in every which way, and we really do value having people that have different skill sets and having them come in like add unique flair to what they're doing,” said Rodgers.

As a creative safe place, the fashion show allows many students to find confidence and appreciate their individuality.

“It's helped me be more appreciative of how different I look and whether that be height, weight, shape, any form of that. It's being able to appreciate what you look like. And I feel like VDR kind of opened that aspect for me,” said Rhian Batts, a sophomore majoring in clinical neuroscience.

With such a diverse representation of Virginia Tech, the volume of creative input and ideas can be a lot to juggle for event organizers. Rogers said the process of taking individuals and creating a cohesive, unified theme is an extremely collaborative and rewarding experience.

“It is a challenge in terms of being able to communicate something that is so creative,” said Rogers. "We do our best to make presentations and use strong words, like this theme means this, it doesn't mean this. A lot of it is also how we present it to them. Then they can run with it. They all have their own individual styles and we're unique in that we bring them together rather than like forcing everybody to be like one specific way.”

Since its inception, the Vêtement de Ru show has expanded in both attendance and participation. This year, 36 designers have spent the past six months creating looks individualized for their specific models. The group’s 10-year goal is to eventually have fashion shows around the world.  

“We want to try to create this pipeline of creative talent, but we also hope for even more expansion,” said Kruger. “Within the next month, we are going to have three shows in three different cities: Blacksburg, Harrisonburg, and a show in Richmond. This final show will close the trilogy we began and a new chapter will begin. It will still be here next year, but we're also establishing other satellite places. And then, you know, there's a longer-term vision of VDR.”

Tickets for next week’s show are on sale now at www.vdrshow.com.

Written by Caroline Reed, a senior and a student writer for Virginia Tech Communications and Marketing