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Most teenage girls flip through a magazine or go to the mall when they need a fashion fix. One enterprising student, however, has taken her fashion from the page to the stage. Junior Sheryl Quock sent three Marilyn Monroe-inspired lingerie ensembles she made down the runway at her first fashion show, which took place at the Impala Restaurant and Lounge on Halloween.
The day, while exhilarating for Quock, did not start off well. “It was the most stressful day of my life,” she said. “I ran in two hours late and had to sew some of the models into their outfits.” In the haste of last-second tailoring, she had to scrap three of the six pieces she made for the show, including a pair of gold silk men’s boxers. “The men wore their own boxers,” she said. “It was a disaster.” But despite the insanity that led up to it, Quock found the show extremely rewarding. “When the models walked out on the runway and everyone started clapping, I was so ecstatic and happy,” she said. “That one moment made the whole day worth it.”
Quock’s first foray into fashion was when she made her Winterball dress freshman year, which, like most initial works of art, was not her best. “It was hideous,” Quock said. But undeterred, she made a duct tape mannequin, found an old sewing machine and began making clothes soon after. “I just started making dresses for my friends,” she said. “It was really exciting to make the ideas that were in my head."
This past summer, her designing got more serious. “I bought a real mannequin on Craigslist, and I took summer classes at the Academy of Art University,” she said. She now has an internship with her Academy design teacher, Jill Giordano, and has sold two items, a skirt and a top, on Etsy, an online vintage and handmade clothing purveyor (www.etsy.com).
The Halloween show was held at the Impala as part of a fundraiser hosted by the non-profit charitable organization Ago Quod Perceptum. “Ms. Joyce got me in contact with the CEO of AQP, Lisa Li, who asked me if I wanted to design a lingerie show for them,” she said. “I was really excited, because I keep a lot of my work to myself. It’s a different demographic from what I’m used to.” While her collection for the show is inspired by Marilyn Monroe, Quock’s inspiration usually comes from nature. “My latest work was inspired by the beach,” she said. “"I went to the beach, made shapes in the sand and watched the waves of the ocean, and now I’m about to make two evening gowns which are going to be part of an eveningwear collection for a photo shoot.”
Quock’s favorite designers are able to stay true to themselves. “I like designers who are really original,” she said, adding that her boss is one of her biggest inspirations, and that she loves the rule-breaking designers Betsey Johnson, Christian Siriano, Diane von Furstenberg and especially Alexander McQueen.
She also hopes to eventually broaden her design horizons even further. “Shoes and menswear embrace creativity, so you have top think outside the box,” she said.
Quock plans on going to design school for college, hopefully in New York, where she wants to work one day as a professional designer. “I’d love to work for some big designers,” she said. The fashion show further confirmed her desire to pursue her dream. “Halfway through the day, when everything was going wrong, I was thinking, ‘I’m never going to be able to make it as a designer!’ But then when the models walked down the runway, it was amazing. I know I want to be a designer for sure.”
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