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Styled by the Stars - EnspiRED Runway’s Empyrean

For some Michigan students, January means nothing more than wind, cold, and late-night study sessions. But, for the University of Michigan fashion organization EnspiRED, this month has been leading up to a highly anticipated and impeccably curated fashion show. The theme for this year: Empyrean– a vogue take on astrology adorned with a namesake synonymous to “heaven at its highest form”. 

EnspiRED shows are not something ordinary to any university campus. The entirely student-run organization executes these events every year, hosting hundreds of alumni, student, and parent spectators alike in the atrium of the Taubman Biomedical Sciences Research Building. These are not your typical fashion shows. Whereas haute couture shows at any given fashion week function in a please-hold-your-applause environment, EnspiRED offers something much different. Attendees need no permission to stand and hype-up their loved ones strutting down the catwalk. This is an event where fashion meets community, and music meets culture. 

Even if you know nothing about astrology, what should be known is that it has become a mainstream movement. Beyond horoscopes, it offers a sense of individualism and comfort for its followers. Astrology has ancient roots, dating back to the days of Babylon. Symbolic figures and animals were adapted from constellations, which were given their own personalities. You have a set constellation for each ‘house’, denoted from the position of the stars in the sky during the time you were born. Empyrean encapsulated six of these houses: the Sun, the Moon, the Ascendant, Mars, Venus, and finally, Lilith (the dark moon). Each house has its own meaning, and this was well reflected on the runway.

While attendees last year saw glamorous looks with the theme “allure,” heads also turned to witness a beautiful manifestation of each individual astrological category. Still, EnspiRED doesn’t limit itself to thematically encapsulating clothing. Music was fundamentally entwined throughout the show. In fact, Music and fashion are what defines the EnspiRED creative direction, led by Vice President of Creative Design DeLorean Slaughter.

“I would like the biggest takeaway to be that...  astrology is not necessarily a monolith”– DeLorean tells me while taking a quick break from rushing backstage, helping to coordinate what is unarguably one of the University of Michigan’s largest fashion events of the year. He is in charge of every single creative aspect of the event– curating the music from his own personal playlist, working closely with image consultants to assemble clothing, and even directing where to place the stage and lighting. Seamlessly, he’s merged a very unique topic within the fashion world to create Empyrean.

Executing this visuals of such an event is no easy task. Months prior to the show, DeLorean teamed up with EnspiRED’s image consultants Cameron Cox and Ritisha Ghosh to relay the concept for the production. Their job is to search for designers and clothing stores to assist in matching the vision of the theme. They take stylistic inputs and manifest them in order to make the fashion reflect the concept. 

Backstage, image consultant Cameron Cox puts on finishing touches before the show.

A massive stage, extensive lighting, beautiful atmosphere, and a team of dozens of style-loving individuals are what solidified then-prospective student Jasmine Williams’ decision to study business here at U-M. Now, as the current President of EnspiRED, she recalls hearing “Pyramids” by Frank Ocean playing during a scene of the show she first attended and describes it as an experience she’ll never forget.

“The professionalism is definitely not student caliber, it’s much higher.” - Jasmine Williams, EnspiRED President

What one can find at New York Fashion Week, one can find at an EnspiRED show. As president, it’s Jasmine’s role to coordinate all bodies involved in making the show as professional as possible. For three hours every Sunday since October, she sat in a large room alongside fellow executive board members while models walked in their direction, drilling every detail meticulously. The show marks the end of a months-long journey to perfect the show, to a tee– “It’s definitely our moment. Everyone has so much involvement.”

An extension of the organization’s professionalism is easily observed when the runway clears. The show and its engagement with both campus and community is far from over. Each year, EnspiRED donates proceeds from the show to a charity of choice. The choice this year being Ann Arbor’s Ozone House, a shelter for homeless youth positioned just south of U-M’s central campus. (Check out their website here: https://bit.ly/2S47R0J)

You can get involved with EnspiRED’s fashion shows! Contact Brianna Buchanan (buchanab@umich.edu) for more information. 

EnspiRED executive board presenting their donation to Ozone House during intermission.