After the runway: THREADS Designer Lindsey Raver

The muted color palette was to combine the simple everyday clothing with the ornate celebratory clothing to form a less literal interpretation of the Aztec Indians.

Senior designer Lindsey Raver designed five outfits for the THREADS 2012 Fashion Show. Her models Stefanie Dunham, Rachel Hojnacki, Kristen Clark, and sisters Lindsey and Hayley Chestnut wore her modernized Aztec clothing down the runway.

Raver stated that her collection is a 100 percent her and her own original ideas.

“I wanted to make the garments themselves very light and airy and simplistic while making the accessories more intricate and fun,” Raver said. “I chose more muted colors so that they would be able to work for a variety of different skin tones and hair colors and so the gold, silver, and turquoise jewelry would be enhanced.”

She loves being a designer because it allows her to use her artistic background. Raver has been involved in art since she was young and decided to come to Central Michigan University to pursue a career in apparel design.

“My inspiration to design for fashion was the interest in creating something that not only used art in a different way, but that was able to literally come to life, seeing that happen at THREADS this year has officially got me hooked,” Raver said.

Experiencing THREADS for the first time was a learning process, and was a great way to go through the process of creating a collection.

“Creating a collection from creating the trend board all the way to sending my girls down the runway gave me a little taste of what it really takes to be a designer and the hard work, dedication, and creativity it really takes to create something out of nothing,” she said. “Even with all of the meltdowns, creativity blocks, broken needles, and nights of no sleep, the feeling I had seeing those girls on the runway in my designs made it all worth it.”

Raver is very proud of her collection and her models. The collection is how she envisoned it and would want to sell to her clients. She said her models have been amazing through the entire process and are having fun with the show.

“Looking back now that it is over and all the craziness is behind us, I did enjoy the experience.”