Hubert Tran, Contributing Photographer

For the second year in a row, students, alumni and fashion lovers filled the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking for the annual MAISON at Yale fashion show on Saturday. 

This year’s show was themed “Revival” and hosted with support from The Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life and Belonging at Yale. Additional support was provided by L’Oréal, which provided all the makeup used for the night. Yale alumna Lauren Yoon ’23, who works for L’Oréal’s marketing team, helped facilitate the collaboration. Yale student organization Asian Recipes at Yale also catered for the event. 

“The theme is meant to hint at the diverse styles of designs being shown on the runway (some very futuristic, some much more conventional),” President of MAISON Mona Chen ’25 wrote to the News. 

Coming from the French meaning “house” or “home,” Chen and Michelle Zheng ’25, MAISON’s vice president, intended for the collective to nurture an environment where anyone could feel welcomed into the fashion community. 

Chen noted in an introductory speech that MAISON displayed most of the pieces on student models in hopes of removing barriers to modeling and designing. This year’s show featured any student who wanted to model and did not include the screening process typical of traditional casting calls. Students were allowed to come as late as the day of the show to get fitted for their pieces, staying in line with MAISON’s mission of inclusivity.  

“I have been wanting to be involved in MAISON since I saw its Entropy show last year,” student model Kyle Shepherd ’25 told the News. “I was in total awe of the student-made pieces and all the models’ confidence.”

The show featured 80 works by designers from Yale, Brown University, the Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design and local New Haven designers, 77 of which were modeled by University students. 

The intercollegiate collaboration for the show was an enjoyable experience for designer Yeji Kim ’25.

“Fashion is a communal experience, and part of why I enjoy it so much is because so much culture is ingrained in it,” said Kim, who is a former staff reporter for the News. “Being able to speak, design and work with others in areas relating to fashion and design was one of my favorite parts of the experience.”

Student models also discussed how they were able to bond through their experience at the event.

“From applying each other’s makeup to making final adjustments and conjuring pre-walk pep talks, the models – many of us complete strangers before the show’s rehearsals – quickly bonded over our shared love of fashion and art,” Shepherd told the News. “I was very happy and proud of myself to be part of the show, and it’s an experience I’ll never forget!”

Many fellow Yalies also came to support their friends walking the runway. Audience member Janice Hur ’27 said that in addition to coming to see the pieces being showcased, she also came to support some friends.

“I’ve always held a love for clothes and fashion,” Hur said. “When I saw this on Instagram I just knew I had to go. The fits, the vibes were so rejuvenating for me. All the models were gorgeously styled.”

In the future, Chen hopes to continue the tradition of inclusivity and accessibility through MAISON and to redefine the field of fashion.

She noted that college fashion shows are still “rare.”

“We want to be able to build community across schools through this event, as well as be as inclusive as possible by doing everything we can to source funds and not have designers pay anything out of pocket, which usually happens at fashion shows,” Chen said.

The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking is located at 17 Prospect St.