Latino fever heats up the stage

To close Latino Heritage Month, the second annual Fiebre Latina Fashion show was held in Mason Hall in Baruch College's 23rd St. Building.

Upon entering the hall, viewers were immediately struck by the calm, celestial atmosphere that was created. The runway had small white lights running along the sides. On the stage on either side of the runway were large white spherical paper lanterns, which added to the heavenly feel. The atmosphere was set, but the auditorium was less than packed.


The show opened with a slideshow of pictures of the models wearing different types of clothes, and makeup. It included beach scenes and park scenes, as well as pictures of the models against a simple white background.

The actual fashion show came next. Each fashion line throughout the show was linked to a certain Zodiac sign. The models displayed confidence in their faces and their walk. Even when their friends in the audience called out their names, the models did not even flinch or break their powerful stare. It was evident their focus had been built up over months of practice in addition to natural talent.


In between each scene, there were intermissions, which were most likely to give the models time to change outfits. But these intermissions were unfortunately longer than the runway walking. In between the first two clothing lines there was an impromptu comedy show. While it got laughs, the stand-up was quite confusing within the context of the show.


At another point in the show a rapper from called Marvelous delivered a 10 to 15 minute rap performance; which like the comedy was confusing within the fashion show context. As Marvelous himself mentioned, an auditorium with people seated is not very conducive to a rap performance. Marvelous tried to get the crowd involved, but his lyrics were hard to hear because of the sound system. At one point, he thought a young woman in the audience was heckling him, but she was actually shouting out the name of her favorite rock song. Shortly after, Marvelous hounded a photographer in the front row who was on his Blackberry.

After Marvelous' act the runway show resumed. The Pisces fashion line, which displayed shiny knee length, floor length and flowing, dresses occurred. The female models once again proved their focus and strutted their stuff in high heels and hard-to-walk-in outfits.

Next was the male Taurus line. The men came out in sequined boxer briefs. The interesting part about this display was though they only wore underwear, their heads were adorned with winter lumberjack hats, which created an interesting dualism.

Some elements of the event contributed to its status as a serious fashion show. The many photographers with their flashing cameras, the skill of the models, the cutting edge clothing and the runway design aided the show, and the hard work was evident. But the long wait between walks, the comedy and bad rapping detracted from the show's strength.