The fashion mecca for De Anza artists: parties and portfolio building workshops on the horizon

To provide fashion enthusiasts with a place to explore and express their unique takes on fashion, a pair of De Anza students established the Fashion & Lifestyle Club.
Business majors, Vivian Chang, 20, and James Wang, 19,  brought the fashion-oriented club back to life after a previous club was declared inactive in fall 2014.
“We wanted to revive it,” Chang  said.
She plans to host workshops to share tips on how to construct and improve fashion portfolios.
“I have experience in establishing a portfolio, a neat one, that can get accepted,” she said.
Chang studied fashion design at the University of the Arts London, but returned to the U.S. to pursue a business degree.
“Even though I’m studying business, [fashion design] is still my favorite hobby,” she said.
Wang said he has always had a deep appreciation for the arts, especially for architecture, and his definition of fashion isn’t just limited to clothing.

Fashion, like the club name suggests, is a lifestyle., he said. The club for him is an “outlet to connect to art.”
The club is still in its early stages, but Chang and Wang explained they have big plans for the future.
“We want to throw fashion-themed parties, where the theme can be as short as one word, like bow, ” Chang said.
She said the attendees are free to interpret the theme however they want.
“Some might be exotic, but that’s OK,” she said. “Don’t be scared.”
The organizers said they hope to recruit sponsors or raise enough funds to host a fashion show produced solely by De Anza students. It would be a platform for artists of all trades to showcase their talents: fashion designers, makeup artists, models and photographers.
Chang and Wang said all art forms are connected, so they encourage anyone to attend their events, even if they don’t consider themselves “fashionistas.”
Chang said she’d like for the club to be a place where different types of artists can convene, network, share ideas and create together.
Club organizers plan to create a Facebook page where students can promote their own work and get feedback from their peers. The page would give De Anza artists, photographers and graphic designers a medium to display their art and meet like-minded students on campus.
“Fashion is not just clothes,”  Chang said. “Fashion and trends are a reflection of the culture around it.”