Story by Ethan Pickering / Assistant Lifestyles Editor
Photos by Ethan Pickering / Assistant Lifestyles Editor
Middle Tennessee State University’s Textile and Merchandising department is hosting their big fashion show this week. The program will be entirely virtual this year, in contrast to previous years, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Everyone involved in the show has had many challenges to overcome and things to adjust to during these strange times. Not only have the show’s premier designers overcame obstacles as part of the virtual nature that the show is following, but the marketing behind the show has also come with a world of challenge as well.
Brittany Hylton is the social media manager and a producer for the TXMD show. She has been marketing the fashion show since it began in January. She has also done work to improve the TXMD Instagram page for better reach and publicity for the department as a whole. Though Hylton is not a TXMD major, she is majoring in marketing at MTSU.
In addition to managing the social media, Hylton is also interviewing senior designers about their styles and platforms to present during the show and on the social media platforms.
Hylton describes the interviews of the designers as, “about three to five minutes long and are just kind of finding out the inspiration behind their collections and design process so their story can be shared on the screen.”
“I think one of the hardest things has been, with COVID procedures, trying to navigate how to make a good interview and how do we get good content for an Instagram page when you can’t see the models’ faces… it takes away a lot of expression,” Hylton said, regarding the interview process.
MTSU’s marketing department is filming the show, as well as providing publicity. This makes the fashion show a joint operation between two departments, which is exceptionally hard to pull off when social distancing precautions play a paramount part in safety procedures.
The TXMD department just recently updated their window display designed completely by students in the LRC on campus, an event covered by Hylton and posted on the Instagram page.
The TXMD fashion show will be filmed on Tuesday, April 13, and will air on True Blue TV on April 24 for anyone to watch.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Ashley Barrientos, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
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