Three Virginia Tech students — a fashion merchandising and design major, neuroscience major, and mechanical engineering major — share an uncommon thread.

The three have organized a revolutionary fashion show that's now in its second year.

“Within the first 20 seconds, you’re going to realize this is not a normal fashion show,” said Luis Kruger, who will direct the Vêtement de Rue Fashion Show on Feb. 4. at Moss Arts Center. “Expect to see something you’ve never seen before.”

Kruger, a senior majoring in fashion merchandising and design, created the show as a passion project. Vêtement de Rue — the French translation for street clothing — reflects the brand’s style of everyday attire.

Kruger co-founded the Vêtement de Rue brand with Brandon Kong, a senior majoring in clinical neuroscience, after they met at a first-year student orientation at Virginia Tech. They found out  they shared similar creative interests and pioneered the Vêtement de Rue brand to fill a niche on campus.

Both organized the first show last year — and it sold out in Moss Arts Center.

Kruger refers to the show as a “metaphor,” representing a designer’s experiences during a creative vision.

“You see the world through a different lens and are kind of taken out of the world itself,” Kruger said. “People in a creative zone feel disconnected — like in a different world.”

To turn this vision into reality, the show incorporates performance and multimedia aspects — the most notable being a short feature film — in addition to clothing pieces designed and modeled by Virginia Tech students.

Photo of student models
Student models for the Vetement de Rue show practice for the Feb. 4 event. Photo courtesy of Brandon Kong.

“It’s something that anyone can come and enjoy. You don’t have to be super into fashion,” Kruger said. 

Kong, the brand’s director of marketing, said this year’s show is two to three times bigger than last year’s event. Student models will wear pieces by at least 20 designers.

More than 80 students auditioned to model and 55 were selected to walk the runway, according to Andrew Rodgers, show coordinator and a junior majoring in mechanical engineering.

Rodgers said the organizers placed an emphasis on representation in body type and background when selecting the models.

“We’re trying to have something that’s representative of the student body and also have people from different backgrounds and across campus who can contribute to the creative circle,” Rodgers said.

Though the three organizers are graduating in the spring, they hope to continue the Vêtement de Rue brand beyond Blacksburg.

“The heart and soul of the brand is the annual fashion shows that we put on," Kruger said. "We would eventually like to have shows in different places — Paris, New York, L.A. Our big 10 year goal is to have a show at Madison Square Garden.”

Until then, you can experience their vision in Moss Arts Center.

Written by Savannah Webb