CREDIT: STEPHANIE LAI
Jessica DeGraw puts finishing touches on of the pieces she will show at Unbound.

The graduating class of Fanshawe College’s three-year fashion design program will be showcasing their work this Saturday at the ninth annual Unbound fashion show.

Students will each be presenting a five-look collection they have been working on in their final semester of school to an audience and a panel of judges.

The collections, which will range from casual wear to work wear, street wear and evening wear, will be judged on their looks, designs, complexity, wow-factor and the sewing of the garments.

“It’s a great way for us to also meet industry [folk] as well because we have a lot of people from Toronto come in and judge the show, look at the show,” said Fashion Design student Serafina De Cristofano. “It’s our introduction into the fashion industry.”

Judges will include fashion designer Franco Mirabelli, Toronto Fashion Incubator’s Susan Langdon, fashion marketer Gail McInnes and others. FashionTelevision’s Glen Baxter will be the show’s emcee.

“[Having our work judged is] probably the most amazing and terrifying feeling,” Fashion Design student Jessica DeGraw said.

She says students have been presenting their work in front of judges since second year, but this time, it’s different.

“We’re not just presenting to five people and our teacher or our teacher and our whole class,” DeGraw said. “It’s to people who could legitimately get us a job, people we could work for one day, people who we could one day be on the same level as.”

Students will also get the chance to win awards and bursaries at Unbound.

“I’m really excited about seeing how the show comes together,” said David Dixon label founder David Dixon, who mentored the students in the creation of their collections. “That’s really when you can sense the nerves in the room, in the back, from behind the curtain, that anticipation of what’s coming out next. Right now, what I’ve seen is truly wonderful work; it’s just been elevating year after year.”

Graduating students will also be putting on a portfolio show at the end of April to showcase their work to industry people they would like to work for.

Unbound 2015 will be held on April 11 at Museum London. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale at The Grand Theatre Office and grandtheatre.com for $45. The audience will also receive a copy of the 2015 Unbound Magazine.

“Our last three years have been building up to this point,” De Cristofano said. “It’s amazing that everything we’ve worked so hard for is now here.”