Tammie TamaraSection Editor

The EXPO, a professional fashion show put on once a year by the fashion promotion and visual merchandising class, will hit the stage Friday, March 22 at 2 p.m. in the Volstorff Ballroom.

“We have high school girls absolutely screaming at the show,” Nancy Lyons, assistant professor in Apparel Merchandising, said.

The students borrow or purchase merchandise from stores in the area, including Brookings, Sioux Falls and Watertown, after looking in magazines and researching the latest fashions.

“The show just shows the current fashions,” said Becky Kellogg, an apparel merchandising major. “It’s fun and exciting.”

And what are the current fashions? A lot of whites, neutrals and denim for both guys and girls are in.

The show features more than 100 outfits presented by SDSU students that volunteer to model.

“A lot of students ask to do it again because they like it,” Kellogg said.

This year’s theme is “2002: The New You. Time to try on the trends.” State Tech coordinates the music.

The fashion presentation coincides with the Little I weekend.

Apparel merchandising major Charisse Butala said she would like to see higher attendance.

“The people that come to this are high school kids from all over the state. We’d like to get a little more of a college crowd,” she said.

Lyons stressed that the show is of professional quality. “It really is a production,” she said, comparing it to theater performances and events like Capers.

In its fourth year, the show uses modern techniques using music as background instead of an announcer.

“The music is very, very important. We don’t sit there and describe the garments,” she said. “It’s a very active and exciting show.”

The show lasts about 45 minutes. Entrance is $3.