EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Spotlights, sewing machines and a little movie magic took over El Paso Community College as students in the fashion design production program got ready to send their work down the runway.
Elian Venegas, who graduated from EPCC on Monday as a fashion design production major, is helping showcase what the program has been building all semester during an end-of-semester fashion runway event.
EPCC student Elian Venegas will walk the stage and receive his diploma May 18th at the Don Haskins Center.
This semester’s show is set around “a cinematic kind of like movie theater theme show,” Venegas said, with different segments highlighting “each class in every category.”
Venegas said he designed about five pieces for the show, and added that everyone in the program will also be featured with their own work.
For Venegas, the draw of fashion started with the thrill of turning an idea into something real.
“I think that the idea of thinking of a night like of something of a design and bringing it to life and being able to like show it to somebody and like letting them wear it,” Venegas said. “The production of it — the sewing, the cutting, the pattern making of it.”
When asked about the state of fashion design in El Paso, Venegas said he feels the city is headed in a good direction, but he wants to see more local talent step into the spotlight.
“There are a lot of designers that really should put more of the work out there because I know a lot of designers that have the passion and have the drive to accomplish,” he said.
With graduation behind him, Venegas said his next step is leaning further into the production and manufacturing side of the industry, focusing on pattern making and helping others bring collections to life at scale.
“I think I want to get more into the production side of fashion, more into the manufacturing, the pattern making,” he said, describing a goal of working with people who want to mass-produce garments and helping them get collections completed.
Elian Venegas, a graduating student in Fashion Technology, psrepared on of his designs for an upcoming fashion show.
Looking ahead 10 years, Venegas said he hopes to be in a major fashion hub such as Los Angeles or New York, working for a large production manufacturer or running his own operation.
“Hopefully, in LA, Los Angeles or New York, working for a big production manufacturer or having my own manufacturer and being a well-known pattern maker,” he said.
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