Descience Fashion Show at MIT Media Lab

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On September 29th, I was invited to attend probably one of the coolest fashion shows I’ve ever been to—Descience: Research on the Runway. I kept getting these cool but kind of cryptic invitations to the show.

I really didn’t know what to expect, but the combo of science at MIT and fashion appealed to me on so many different levels. Coming from a background of science (I’m a former dentist), and somehow ending up in fashion myself, it was a no brainer. If you invite me to a show about science and fashion I’m gonna go!

Getting to the show itself proved to be a bit of a scientific debacle. My friend Nicole and I drove over and when we got to what we thought was 75 Amherst St (according to imaps)…we discovered that we were many blocks away and on the wrong side of Mass Ave. Has this ever happened to you? Sometimes I think we give too much faith in technology. We knew the easy meter parking was too good to be true. We hunkered our fashionable selves back into the car and drove over and parked illegally outside of the Media Lab. When you’re late for a fashion show, anything goes. I told Nicole that if she got a ticket I would cover it.

We rushed upstairs and were told yellow ticket meant reserved seating. Of course due to our tardiness there was only one seat remaining. Nicole and I squeezed our butts together on a single seat. We were glad we had kept up with our Flywheel and Barry’s Bootcamp.

The show was introduced by this adorable budding scientist. He was probably the cutest emcee I’d ever laid eyes on, down to his royal blue suit, bow tie, and tortoise rimmed glasses.

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The show began with the tune of a 4 DJ dj booth.

I’ve never seen that many dj’s at a dj booth, but then again it WAS MIT.

Each fashion had a scientific meaning. Scientists around the globe were paired with fashion designers to come up with a garment that represented whatever scientific research they were highlighting. Instead of a line sheet, the fashion and scientific research represented was displayed on a large screen above the runway. I thought this was quite innovative. It really helped you keep track, in case you drank too many beakers or flasks of white wine at the reception.

My three favorite fashions of the night were this first look of the show:

 

I called it Spinal Tap. But I think the name was actually something else.

I loved this design by local gal Candace Wu, who also got voted Best People’s Choice. By Jay Calderin and other MIT bigwigs who sat on the jury committee.

 

And who couldn’t love this poofy number:

 

Here were two honorable mentions:

Invasion: Purple Parasite Posse, don’t love the name but I loved the cape, I want to wear that. And what do you think of a Dermablu-Articifial Skin? I just like the name and the sassy way she’s holding her train. All in all it was a really unique fashion show to attend. Lots of LED lights incorporated into the looks (the lighting at the show itself was very well choreographed with the defile). I also loved being able to get up close and personal with the fashions after the show. The models and designers were mingling amongst beaker toting revelers right after. This doesn’t often happen at fashion shows. On our way out I fell in love with this background, so I couldn’t resist posting it in my instagram. My favorite part about coming to MIT on a Monday night was finishing off the night at my favorite restaurant across the river: West Bridge.

xo,

Tonya

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