Last weekend Business of Art and Design students Mo Mobtagha ’26 and Sam Balikowa ’26 hosted a night of fashion designs and immersive experiences at Genesis Fashion Show. Genesis is a student-led fashion show that aims to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration among students. The event and its organizers seek to redefine fashion by empowering artists, celebrating diversity, and advocating for a sustainable future. Genesis aims to create opportunities for every major to contribute their unique skills.
Genesis 2024 creative co-directors Mo Mobtagha and Sam Balikowa.
All photos: Riley Moore ’26, Film
The annual event took those ambitions further than ever before with immersive displays created by Motion Design students and designs for the space by an Entertainment Design student Amanda Caldera ’25. In Bejaoui’s second year as creative director and Balikowa’s first as vice president and head of designers, the duo enlisted the collaboration of Julieta Bukin ’25, Motion Design, and Abigail Atwell ’26, Motion Design, who created motion graphics for the Film department’s new LED video wall in Film’s Sound Stage A. For the conceptual design, story, and floor plan, they collaborated with Caldera, who was the lead set designer and part of the core Genesis team.
Genesis grew out of another iteration of the fashion show called Fresco, that was managed by Linda Liao ’23, Business of Art and Design. This year’s co-directors took place in that event as a model and a designer. Liao handed the project over to Bejaoui and Fresco was rebranded into Genesis. Balikowa explains the history, “I was then brought onto the team as vice-president by Mo, as we both are fashion enthusiasts. Genesis was similar to Fresco in the sense that we still wanted to promote sustainability and advocate for issues in the fashion industry, however as Genesis grew, we also aimed to create a multidisciplinary collaborative event and we wanted to work with all of the majors on campus. With Mo as Creative director, me as logistics manager, and Amanda Caldera as set designer this year, we wanted to see how we could expand the idea of a fashion show and deliver a unique and refreshing experience for the audience.”
The stage hosted looks by 13 designers:
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Araceli Aguirre ’27, Film
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alum Curtis Anderson
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Sam Balikowa
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Lily Bean ’26, Visual Studies
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Mobtagha Bejaoui
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Romina Bonomi ’26, Fine Arts
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Sarah Davis ’26, Business of Art and Design
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Blue Dunsworth ’25, Fine Arts
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Ava Franzen ’27, Fine Arts
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Emma Myers ’28, Entertainment Design
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Natasha Patel ’27, Virtual Reality Development,
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Mikayla Queery ’27, Computer Animation
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Penelope Strauss ’27, Illustration
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Cat Vo ’25, Illustration
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Seoeun (Sunny) Yu ’25, Illustration
The theme for this year’s show was Fluidity, as a celebration of concept in all its forms—embracing movement, nature, gender, life, and everything beyond traditional binaries. From that theme, a story was developed centering around a storm. This story unfolded as a four act show: the calm before the storm, the storm, and stages of renewal after the storm. The metallic floored stage and blue lighting gave the event its dark and watery effect, setting the tone for designs that ranged from the haunting unknown under the sea to the surreal whimsy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Bejaoui expressed gratitude to the community that helped to make the event possible, “A special thank you to Kathleen Sobr, Jaime DeRuyter, and Dr. Tiffany Holmes for your faith and unwavering support for this project. Thank you to all of the Genesis team, you made it happen! My sincere gratitudes!!”
Likewise from Balikowa who shared, “Special thanks to Business of Art and Design Department, Entertainment Design Department, and Dr. Holmes, the VP of Academic Affairs.”
