The Cornell Design League's 25th anniversary red-carpet gala, "Once Upon a Runway," in Barton Hall April 4, embodied stark contrasts in fabric and forms, highlighting young designers' early experimentations in apparel processes as well as senior fashion design majors, who have perfected their techniques and unique personal styles and are ready to enter the industry in June.

More than 3,000 people came to the fashion show at which more than 60 student designers featured 200 original ensembles on 170 live student models. The team-based "Circus" line, for example, exuded fairy tale playfulness, and senior Elana Edelstein's imaginative "Outside the Box" mini-drama charmed the audience with a fanciful design adventure by way of a treasure chest full of trinkets.

Fashions for men included the collaborative, fun-loving contemporary "Feedbak/Pendleton" plaid wool line that was in sharp contrast to the beautifully contoured and crisply tailored haute couture menswear collection of Heber Sanchez '09 in shades of burnished copper and black.

The elegant and sophisticated "Dripping Lace" evening dresses by senior Jessie Fair meshed beautifully with junior Abbey Liebman's hand-painted silk frocks inspired by Claude Monet's water lilies and the sheer opalescent jewel-tone confections of Alla Chausov '09. In bold dissonance to these alluring feminine silhouettes was senior Amanda Zheng's high fashion black and silver "Obsidian" collection with a postmodern architectural look of steel and glass.

The Cornell Design League has produced an annual fashion show on the Cornell campus since 1984. Cornell offers the only fashion design program in the Ivy League and the only Ph.D. in apparel design in the United States. Both are in the College of Human Ecology's Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design.