Featured photo by Chelsea Blackwell
Story by Shamani Salahuddin
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In 2017, a fashion merchandising student produced a runway reflecting the culture of those who didn’t feel seen on campus.
The Chicago-born Memphis-bred sophomore entered college without extensive knowledge of her Black history. But she looked around the predominately white institution and sparked an idea to create a safe space for Black students at Middle Tennessee State University to be themselves and celebrate their history.
In her time, BréYhana Johnson’s vision to showcase Black history through fashion at MTSU grew into a long-running legacy attracting crowds of all races and genders.
After seven years of success, Color the Runway—a student-run Black History Month fashion show—put on its last production Feb. 16. The show called “Muse,” culminated the determination, sweat and tears of the formidable runway team and models from 2017 to 2024. The high-energy ballroom reached capacity, with the number of guests set at 1,000. Screams and applause overflowed from the audience for every model that strutted down the runway and team members got emotional watching the tradition come to an end.
“Oh, I’m sad. We were really sad about it,” Ani Woodard, “Muse” director, said, giggling. “It sucks because I feel like there were so many new students who just found out about it, and people were saying they were going to audition next year.”
Woodard would love to see the production continue but understands why it’s ending, she said. The first Black History Month fashion show was Johnson’s brainchild, but many names built the production into what it is today. Color the Runway began as a grassroots project of creative minds combining resources to simply put on a good show.
Now, the founders–the first student team to foster the production–are all in their late 20s to 30s with jobs, and some even have families. Without them on campus, it’s a challenge to maintain the show’s primary intentions:
- Produce a fashion show that celebrates Black history and culture;
- and create a safe space for Black students, artists and creatives on campus.
“I think it’s a pause because the legacy is so big, and we want to entrust that legacy to somebody that we trust to keep it going and not change the vision and principles as to why it was started in the first place,” said Nia Hammonds, a Color the Runway founder.
And usually after students graduate, they move on from college organizations.
However, with Color the Runway, the founders fostered an emotional attachment to the production and its impact on MTSU’s Black community.
Other Black History Month events occur on campus, but Color the Runway was a signature event in Johnson’s eyes. It was the largest student-led production that brought Black people together to commune in one space.
Building to the production it is today
In 2016, when Johnson was a freshman, only 4,342 black students enrolled at MTSU, according to Data USA. That number decreased to 3,825 in 2019, dropping to 3,242 in 2021.
“We were such a small, tight-knit Black community,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have a lot of formal space to gather, and there was not really a desire–from what I saw–administratively to create that space.”
In pursuit of establishing the show, the original team faced several oppositions for funding and practice space. This was common for other Black organizations as well, according to Johnson.
For that first year, the team shuffled the tables and chairs in the hallway outside the Student Union ballroom and held practice there. There may have been a lack of access and resources at the time, but there needed to be a formal process for renting spaces.
“But I think the beautiful thing is that it continued to be such a good show even when those things weren’t working out in our favor,” Johnson said.
In 2017, “100 Years of Fashion” broke bounds and exceeded the expectations of the show team and the university. They were only allotted space for 150 guests–less than half of the Student Union ballroom–and surpassed capacity before the show began.
The following year, the university provided room for 500, and as the show continued to grow, the team eventually gained the whole ballroom, which sits up to 1,200 people.
However, the show initially wasn’t supposed to be a recurring event. Positive feedback and student investment brought the show around again for the second time.
Each year, more and more elements were added to the passion project. The earlier shows only had background props, which evolved into colorful curtains, and then digital graphics on a screen and developed lighting design.
“I’m proud,” said Demetrice Cortez, four-year model and co-director of “Muse.” I’m very happy because just looking from the pictures, you can see the growth, you can see the support, you can see from show one to last year someone being unsure to being confident.”
Despite all their accomplishments, MTSU made it difficult for them to put on the show every year, said Keyann Reaves, a Color the Runway founder. Reaves and Cortez speak on being removed by police from practice spaces, making the decision to stop the show a lot easier.
Sadie Katie Hampton, assistant Director of Student Unions, manages room reservations for campus buildings, including the Student Union Building, Keathly University Center and James Union Building.
She worked with the Color the Runway team to find adequate space for them to rehearse on campus, Hampton said. However, finding a campus building was difficult because they would have to rehearse within building hours, which ended at 10 p.m. Hampton said this policy was over her position.
“Be out by 10? We’re out by 10 because we don’t want to cause problems,” Woodard said. “At the end of the day, we’re a black org, and it’s a big group of us, so we don’t want to cause problems to give them any reason to cancel our show.”
The runway team experienced practice challenges from 2017 to 2024. The team had practiced faithfully in the KUC for three years, so when new time restrictions were enforced, founding members were surprised… sort of.
Every year feels like a fight to be respected as an organization. The founders felt the university looming, tracking how well the show was going and finding a way to delay progress.
“It hurt because Color the Runway was an official organization at MT, so I didn’t understand why we couldn’t get a practice space, and it was frustrating, but I’m not going to lie; it definitely seemed like it fueled everybody,” said Desireé Wilson, sophomore model.
With the founding team taking a beat from this annual event, Color the Runway is paused for now. They call it a semicolon; one day, the production could be revamped, but if it were to return, it would look different than these foundational years.
The show is now a brand with an esteemed reputation on campus, and the founders treat it as such. They support anyone who wants to create a Black fashion show; it just won’t be called Color the Runway.
So, what’s next?
Wilson attended the fashion show for the first time last year for “Color the Runway Presses the Issue.” As a freshman, her eyes lit up, seeing so many people who looked like her in one space, and she knew she had to be a part of the show. Little did she know it would be her first and last walk on the Color the Runway stage.
“My heart broke because I was like, ‘Dang, I can’t do this again next year?’ because it was a family thing,” Wilson said. “I grew a real bond with a lot of—if not all—them. It was definitely a lot to take in at one time.”
Her eyes glazed over, and her voice began to break, thinking about how Color the Runway was a safe space where she could be herself without judgment. Nothing on campus compares to this organization.
“We are at a PWI, so there’s not a lot of safe places for us,” Wilson said. “Genuine, safe places, at that. Where you can be yourself wholeheartedly.”
There are rumblings amongst the lower-class men about possibly beginning a new show, but Wilson has doubts. Transitioning from a model to a team member is challenging, considering the lack of knowledge of the team’s administrative work.
“I think with the level of commitment this show requires, it requires a special person to pick up that torch. I can tell you if I were a college student today, I would not want that torch,” Danielle Rochelle, the organization’s faculty advisor, said, laughing.
Rochelle spent a lot of time speaking with the team, and the level of commitment needed on top of other student responsibilities is not easy.
Being the show director is a lot of stress one cannot prepare for. The founders can try to train or transition a past team member from a different role, but no one knows how intense it is until you have the title of show director, said Hammond.
Come February 2025, the pillar of Black History Month events at MTSU will not happen. So, what comes next?
“Nothing really goes away, something else comes from it,” Johnson said. “You guys have to have that signature thing on campus. I think it kind of gets people excited to be there, and I think it [Color the Runway] was such a really big part of the Black culture on campus.”
Shamani Salahuddin is the Assistant Lifestyles Editor for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell and Assistant Lifestyles Editor Shamani Salahuddin, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
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