Haute couture, Burbank-style

Jackson Bell

Woodbury fashion design students will display their work at Woodbury

University’s 39th annual fashion show, “Metropolo: A Mid-Century

Night’s Dream.”

Sunday’s show at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles will

begin with a cocktail and dinner reception, followed by the catwalk

presentation, which will feature the works of 30 students.

“We have a lot of people who will come and see the show, and it’s

wonderful exposure for people to see what the students are doing,”

said Penny Collins, chairwoman of the university’s fashion

department. “It’s a debut for the students.”

Amber Benson, who plays Tara on the TV show “Buffy the Vampire

Slayer,” will emcee the event. Coty Award-winning designer Gustave

Tassell, whose works are on display in Paris’ Louvre art museum, will

receive the Woodbury Design Award. Hutton Wilkinson and the late Tony

Duquette will also be honored with the Woodbury Style Award for their

collaboration in interior design, jewelry, sculpture and painting.

The theme of the fashion show will represent the optimistic

attitude and audacity of architecture and design found in Los Angeles

after World War II, Collins said.

So far, the event has raised $4,000 more than the university’s

fund-raising goal of $76,000, surpassing revenue from last year’s

show by 15%, said Claudia Campos, the show’s executive producer and a

university alumni relations officer.

“This kind of fund-raising is unusual in this year of reduced

charity giving,” she said.