The Tartan: I’m embarrassed to say that it took me almost three years at Carnegie Mellon to make it to the famed Lunar Gala. Given the hype I’ve heard, I was expecting to enter the show and be magically transported to some ethereal time and place. In retrospect, this was an unrealistic expectation, but I still really enjoyed the show. This year’s Lunar Gala, “Liminal,” focused on the spaces between spaces — transitions between states.
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I am so happy that I got to go to the Lunar Gala this year! I had previously read about and seen their Instagram page before I got to Carnegie Mellon, but the whole show surpassed my expectations. I was so impressed with every aspect of the runway show. All of the fashion designers did such a good job creating innovative, cohesive looks. It was cool to see the range of ready to wear pieces to the more avant garde looks. The construction on some of them was also absolutely incredible. I love that the show was all student run. I think that part of what made the show super unique was that there was an original piece of music behind every collection and original projection design as well. This really helped transport the audience into the world of the collections. The set design and program design were also super cool. It was so wholesome to see all 180+ students who worked on the show come out at the end, all of their hard work and dedication was absolutely worth it.
I had the opportunity to see Lunar Gala this year for the first time and it was a really cool show! One of my good friends had a line, which initially prompted me to buy my (admittedly expensive) general admission ticket to the show. The production value of the show itself was overall, pretty high - the lines themselves were very creative and well constructed, and it was really interesting to see how a number of different current students, alumni and professionals from the Pittsburgh area interpreted the theme of Liminal set by the gala. It was also really fun to see how so many students (180+!) worked on bringing this show to life including a couple of drama folks which is always neat. This project is obviously a heavy lift to get off the ground and it’s impressive that it's pulled off so well year after year by the student body.
I am really jealous that I could not make it to the Lunar Gala this year. Unfortunately, I had run crew and I could not attend. After seeing everyone's photos online and reading articles like this it has really shown me that if I have the time next year, I really need to go. I think it is a really great way to get CMU students to experiment and challenge themselves in a fun and supportive environment that will still allow students to push themselves because of how popular the event is. I also heard that there was a really big turnout and it's really good to see that amount of support for a cmu student event. I have also heard that students who participate in designing get a decent amount of budget to work with when creating their designs. I think that's probably why there are so many designers willing to enter the event because they won't have to fund their projects themselves. Again, I really want to go next year and I congratulate all of this year's designers.
I admittedly have never been into fashion shows, with my first experience with fashion shows being with playground and Lunar Gala. I do have many friends who were involved in the gala this year and it was exciting to hear about and learn about their process, unfortunately due to the schedule of my School drama production I was not able to make it this year. I enjoyed the theme because I feel like exploring what is between something and nothing could be very interesting when it comes to Fashion. As someone who has not seen the gala I thought the point about lack of diversity in the models was very interesting. We go to a very diverse School in many aspects and I wish that was reflected in the model selection for Lunar Gala. Obviously this does not reflect on any of the amazing design work done especially by school of drama students however I think this is something that should be considered in the future.
Although I did not get to see the lunar Gala I heard a lot about it. through friends peers and teachers. I see the effect it had on the Carnegie Mellon student body. people lined up to see the show and the students who worked endless nights on the fashion for it, their work paid off. I think shows and events like these are super necessary on a college campus. especially one that majors mostly in stem subjects. The Lunar Gala was extremely special because anyone could take part in it. it also showed people the many aspects of creating a show, lighting sound sets, stage management, and of course costumes. I had a few friends participate in the Lunar Gala as costume designers, and being people who didn't come from a theater background it was almost entertaining to see them juggle the million tasks of a costume designer Constructor, and fitter. the show looked beautiful and as I said I think it brought happiness to Carnegie Mellon's sometimes sad student body.
I was lucky enough to see the Lunar Gala and I thought it was wonderful. However, I do share the author’s criticisms about size inclusiveness in the models, as many of the models all had noticeably similar proportions. I am also impressed that they were able to put in a full LED screen at the back, although I do wonder if my ticket price would have been cheaper without it. The student work was really incredible. Some of my favorite lines were the Opulence and Pro Forma. Both designers had garments that were extremely well constructed, beautiful, and cohesive. My only other complaint would be that they started nearly forty minutes after they said that they would, which is always a pet peeve of mine, especially when by that great an amount, but in their defense there were still people arriving throughout the entirety of that time. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.
I haven’t made it to a Lunar Gala yet, but I’m determined to see one before I leave here. Given that we’re all in the school of drama, I think we all know people who participated in some way in the show. It was really cool to recognize some of the costumes in the photos in the article! I was surprised to read that the group of models wasn’t very diverse; I wonder what the application/audition process is like and who decides what. Seeing the photos, it’s almost hard to believe that the production is student run. I didn’t know that the production involved scenery, lighting, sound, and even projections in such a major way. I thought that it was really only costume designers with rudimentary lighting design. I also didn’t know that there was a new theme every year. I’m bummed that I missed it this year – tickets sold out so fast – but I’m going to make it a point to see it next year.
I was unfortunately unable to attend the Lunar Gala, however, I saw a lot of incredibly gorgeous videos and images of the event. It is incredibly impressive that so many students were able to come together and find a way to fit the creation of such a massive event into their schedules. In all honesty, I still don’t really understand what the Lunar Gala is, besides the general concept of “student fashion show”, but I get the feeling that it is kind of a way bigger deal then I was under the impression that it was. It’s something that kind of just showed up magically on the day when everyone was going to the Lunar Gala. I am curious about the history of the event and how it developed as such a big occasion on campus and who it is organized by. I was also interested in the article’s discussion of the models utilized for the event, while I don’t know much about it, I am under the impression that it is fundamentally for fun and students to show off their work, so it doesn’t make sense for there to be an incredibly selective modeling process in my opinion.
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