Fashion design majors overcome obstacles, find success in program | Entertainment

She’s been a fashion major twice, but she’s graduating with one degree.

Jasmine Waller was devastated when she had to retake a course. Life had been busy — she was working a student job, pouring hours into projects and attending class — and her report card reflected it.

Somewhere in between the poor grade and the hours of working on projects, she switched her major to fashion design. 

“I actually did it over a break and then immediately came back and was like, ‘I want to change back,’” Waller said. “I didn’t even have a day of classes as a merchandising major.” 

Waller said lots of students make the switch, with her 30-person freshman class shrinking to only four graduating students. Fashion majors often put thousands of dollars and hours into their classes, and passersby may hear sewing machines in Nancy Randolph Davis room 480 whirring late into the night, though classes end in the afternoon. 

Diane Limbaugh, a fashion professor, said Oklahoma State’s fashion program doesn’t teach students about only the “pretty” parts of the industry. Housed on the fourth floor of NRD, the fashion program teaches students about garment construction, manufacturing, sustainability and how to create 3D designs of their work.

Despite the major’s difficulty, Waller preserved. 

“I don’t have a plan B,” Waller said.

She remembers her dad rushing to JOANN Fabric and Crafts one Christmas Eve to grab her one last gift — a sewing machine. 

Others in the fashion program began the same way. Both Department Head Lynn Boorady and Limbaugh started sewing at 9, but neither imagined themselves making a career out of it. Boorady discovered the possibility when she met with the textile and apparel department while getting her master’s at Cornell, and Limbaugh got her fashion degree at OSU after getting a fashion merchandising undergraduate degree and working in the industry.

Now, they are part of a team of faculty that encourages students to pursue degrees in fashion as undergraduates. 

“It’s very rewarding when you see the light bulb turn on in the students’ eyes,” Limbaugh said, “And then to see them be successful in the industry and stay connected and everything is really pretty cool.” 

Waller and peer Makenna Bayer are well past that “lightbulb” experience some had in their beginner classes. They’re in the home stretch, designing a seven-piece collection for a fashion show April 25.

But a physical lightbulb flickers on in their lives each day. Each of the women goes to class, flips the red “on” switch on their industrial sewing machine and works nearly all day on their collections and class work. 

Waller’s collection, “Regal Reverie,” is inspired by trim she bought at a Paris flea market as well as the TV show Bridgerton. Bayer’s collection aligns with her career goal of designing wedding wear and is called “Going to the Chapel.”

Bayer grew up in a family of engineers who graduated from OSU. She applied to be a Cowboy, and as she scrolled down the list of offered degree programs, fashion stood out. 

“Fashion is a type of engineering, I swear it is,” Bayer joked of the time commitment of the major.

Although some may imagine the sewing room the women practically live in as comparable to a runway on class days, students usually dress for comfort, Bayer said. The long hours encourage them to wear sweatpants rather than dress up. 

Room 480 isn’t the only place fashion students put in work. The NC-170 research group is a collaboration between approximately 14 universities that conduct research on personal protective technologies for occupational and environmental hazards. 

“This could be specialized clothing, footwear, hand wear, helmets or other head covering, etc,” Boorady, the group’s administrative adviser, said. “We have designed items for impact protection, fire fighters, oil field workers, agricultural field workers, sun protection and more.”

Fashion isn’t only about clothes, though, Boorady said. She said it started as a form of self expression, which is something that extends beyond mere clothing. But for some OSU students, clothing and the fashion program are at least where self expression begins.

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