Students within the Textiles and Apparel major have collaborated since 1970 to produce a fashion show each spring to display their designs. After this year, the show’s focus will simplify, with reduced student opportunities.
The annual Capstone Collection Fashion Show is an event that celebrates the work of students in the major’s Capstone Collections class. UT’s longest-standing fashion organization, University Fashion Group, organizes the show. According to UFG’s website, the show’s audience has grown from 500 guests to more than 5,000 since its start.
This year’s show falls on April 26 and will be the last to exist in its current state as it will shift to include fewer looks and simpler styles. Usually, the show features around 70 creative looks from 16 to 18 student designers, said Nathalia Gomez, a biology sophomore and business director of UFG. Additionally, around 65 student models usually participate, she said.
“It’s very rewarding to the (capstone) designers … who have been working up to this point and are finally able to see their work come to fruition on such a grand scale,” Gomez said.
Students fear n ext year’s show will feature only about 20 looks because the Capstone Collections class will shift to focus more on “tech packs,” highly detailed blueprints for garments that include sketches and measurements, Gomez said.
Gomez said the decrease in opportunities for student involvement will further growing frustrations with both the show and the major. These changes led Gomez herself to leave the textile and apparel major after her freshman year.
“Some people might just decide they (won’t) come back and finish the series of courses, and … there might be less looks to complete,” Gomez said.
The major will also undergo structural changes like removing certain design-based classes and combining others, beginning in the fall. Currently, it offers pathways in textiles, design and merchandising to equip students with “critical knowledge and entrepreneurial skills,” according to their mission statement.
Jennifer Wilson, the Division of Textiles and Apparel director, wrote in an email the changes aim to better prepare graduates for the workforce.
“This review considered how the curriculum aligns with current industry practices and with peer institutions, both common practices in curriculum reviews,” Wilson wrote.
Currently, the effects on the capstone class and the show are unclear, Gomez said. As the president of UFG for the 2026-2027 school year, she plans to continue support for student designers amid these changes.
“I’m planning on implementing a design committee, trying to fill those gaps where people aren’t able to express themselves more creatively in the (major),” Gomez said. “That would translate to, not necessarily our normal spring show, but maybe a different fall show, … so that people still have those opportunities.”
Gail Chovan, a textiles and apparel professor who currently teaches the capstone class, said she has seen the program shift to a focus on hireability over design. After 11 years, Chovan said she is now leaving the University.
“They are simplifying the curriculum and funneling it into what they think the industry wants and needs,” Chovan said. “The diverse aspects of (textiles and apparel) are being erased.”
Jazmin Hernandez Arceo, a textiles and apparel senior and UFG president, said she hopes incoming students to the major advocate for themselves if they are unhappy.
“We really don’t know what’s going to come of it, but hopefully, if the students feel a certain type of way, they advocate for a change,” Hernandez Arceo said. “I hope the students have enough courage to talk and make sure their opinions are heard.”
