The Threads Fashion Show: Ooh's, Ahh's and Applause

Kristine Opaleski's work on display was driven by The Lion King.

The 15th annual Threads Fashion Show at Central Michigan University featured theme-based designs from movies like The Dark Knight, Black Swan and The Lion King.

Twenty-four C.M.U. students designed for the show on April 13 in the university's Warriner Hall. A collection of movie trailers at the beginning of the show introduced the audience to the themes used in the designs.

Kristine Opaleski's designs based on The Lion King were among the more talked about designs from the show. Her peers gave her more awards than the other designers. It was her third year designing for the show, she told Central Michigan Life.

“I was inspired by The Lion King,” Ms. Opaleski told Central Michigan Life. “I find the movie itself very majestic. It’s extremely moving. There (are) incredible themes I never caught on to as a kid, and every kid watches that movie and loves it, and when you get older, you love it for different reasons and that’s what I wanted to personify.”
Opaleski created six designs that she spent about $400 to make, along with some sleepless nights, according to an interview with C.M.U. Some students paired together to work on designs from a theme.

Opaleski's designs were made with basic earthly colors assembled in unique patterns.

Jason Gagnon's collection, "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Kristine Opaleski's "The Lion King."

Kristine Opaleski's "The Lion King."

Kristine Opaleski's "The Lion King."

Dress by Shermane Fouche, a C.M.U. apparel design faculty.