Going ‘Behind the Seams’ of the SCAD Fashion Show 2026
One of the most exciting times of the year at SCAD is near the end of the spring quarter; the school hosts its annual Fashion Show. It showcases the fashion design seniors across all campuses with the best-of-the-best collections. The fashion students showing work have prepped since the beginning of their time at SCAD by taking rigorous courses like FASH 361, Draping Techniques for Fashion, FASH 247, and the History of Fashion, to ensure that they are ready for the tailoring and development of a collection that the final fashion show requires. For many fashion students, being accepted into this show is the pinnacle of success at SCAD. It puts their collections in the front row of fashion prospects, namely Vogue, which features selected students in its “Runway” newsletter.
Before they make it to the runway, fashion students take on the work of the atelier and the designer, coming up with a concept for a 5 garment collection that is reflective of an idea, circumstance or cultural relationship to personal to them. They take on the task of creating the garment through sewing, embroidery, silk screening, and a myriad of other methods. The students start with toiles: mock-ups made of cotton muslin. They use these as pattern references once they are approved by advisors and professors. They then move on to the final garment made of their actual material of choice, beginning their journey towards making it into the show. After 3 cycles of intensive critiques, over 50 student’s collections are selected for the official show after a jury show. Models don their collections before fashion higher-ups in the industry select the most refined collections for the show. The process is a long one for SCAD senior fashion students, but in the end making it to the show is the apex of their hard work in motion.
As a selected SCAD fashion model, I have had the privilege of watching many of these designers grow throughout these last 2 quarters. Sitting in on 5 pm classes and coming to fittings weekly ensured high chances of them receiving high marks for their collections. Between pinning, sewing, and adjusting the garment itself, senior designers make sure that from head to toe their models are ready to face the jury, and if selected, the SCAD Fashion show as well. Out of the 4 designers that I modeled for this year, Gabby Fox, designer of the collection Sufficient Grace, made it into the show after careful examination. Gabby’s collection was inspired by her faith and is a reflection of the flaws behind the angelic people most of us wish to be, as well as the battles with reaching religious clarity. Her collection was deemed one worthy of being walked for SCAD’s runway. I was able to travel down to Savannah to prepare for the show to don her garment.
Although high fashion models make their walks and turns seem completely effortless on the catwalk, there is truly much to be learned before one can fully master the runway. I came to understand this when I and over 20 other SCAD-selected models arrived in Savannah to officially begin our training. Before even entering the SCAD Museum of Art, we were strongly assured multiple times that the work that we were doing was just as crucial as the making of the garments themselves. On the outside looking in, it seems that for a runway a model is just walking up and down showing off a piece and its work. While this surface level analysis is true, there are much deeper purposes for a model than just working as a human hanger. When a model walks, they are expected to bring life to a garment not only through the motion of walking, but also with the attitude of their look. In a fitting (where the model tries on the garment and gets sized and photographed) one does not have to concern themselves so much with the attitude of the piece. When walking the runway the story goes completely opposite with attitude being everything.
For our 2026 SCAD model training we had the privilege of being instructed by the renowned Coco Rocha. She is known for over 30 Vogue features, her iconic runway personality, and of course, her esteemed model training camp that she officially started in 2018. On Wednesday and Thursday of show week SCAD students got a taste of what Coco’s training camp looked like right at the Savannah campus on the real runway where we would be walking. As we were beginning, Coco reiterated to us what our goals were in terms of bringing life to the garments we were selected for. We started by doing creative walk exercises like bending our back as far back as we could go while tightening our shoulder blades and straightening our legs as long as possible. She reminded us to embrace the comedy of the situation while also taking the steps seriously so that we could eventually evolve our exercise into a true walk. The Savannah and Atlanta models were separated into feminine and masculine walk groups. We each took turns down the SCAD runway to practice walking with our whole bodies engaged. However silly it felt then, as we were slowly instructed to lead with our hips while raising our back inches more for our walks, I certainly began to feel the change happening in the way I was carrying myself on the runway. When we were training at school I was focusing more on just trying to show off the clothes, but here in official training, Coco encouraged us to think about the type of garment we were wearing; what it meant to the designer and what they wanted it to communicate. Now being prompted with deeper questions, I began to picture the elegance and grace of Gabby’s bridal collection. Having spoken with her and watching her work over those many months, I had an undeniable grasp of her concept and wish for garments. I was able to channel that knowledge into the way that I moved. In understanding the meaning of a piece, a new level of who I was on the runway came out. I suddenly went from just being a SCAD student practicing walks outside to blossoming as Ameill Brown, a bridal couture model on the runway. Feeling both who I was and what I was wearing created a transformative experience in the way that I moved. An experience which I and other models will never forget. Before we parted for that first training, Coco reminded us that practice makes perfect and that by the end of the first training we did over four rounds of practicing our walks, engaging our faces, and channeling our energy so that when Friday came we would be ready to show not only the power of impeccable design by our fashion students, but also the strength in enriching the art through modeling.
May 14th, Friday, Show Day.
Friday was undoubtedly the busiest day for modeling as it was officially show day. After rounds of practicing with dress rehearsals, getting in and out of our garments for changing, practicing our walks with the official garments, understanding the way that they flowed, and the restrictions they might have brought, we were ready to walk the runway. With nerves high backstage, Coco gave the models an important pep talk. One that would arguably define the importance of this particular SCAD runway when she told us to be fierce, bold, and fast.
With her words that were backed by years of experience and a genuine love for what she does, she altered the state of the energy backstage. We understood the importance of what we were doing and how transformative this could be for so many student’s careers. Now the eyes were on us. We stood ready to display the original visions of our designers. In the audience there was the forefront of fashion’s future, with each designer eager to see their pieces. After each collection a standing ovation followed.
Through us, our designer’s months of work were being recognized on a massive scale. After being her own atelier and watching her collection as we walked, I got the chance to ask Gabby how she felt.
“I am extremely proud and so grateful.”
These stunning garments are seen for a brief walk on the runway, but for those of us on the inside, the months of sewing and hours of reaching deep inside ourselves is glorified with every step.
This is SCAD fashion, the success of dreams, and the work that goes into making it to the runway.
