The Fashion Collective at UC Irvine (FITS at UCI) hosted its annual runway show on May 12. This spring’s theme, “Vice and Virtue,” featured the work of six student designers exploring the contrast between good and evil.
Second-year student Jacob Macias served as this year’s director and producer while also being one of the featured designers. According to Macias, the theme plays with the complexity of morality and how it can be translated into fashion.
“It came from a personal place, and it’s just kind of a personal belief that not every person is inherently good or inherently all evil,” Macias told New University.
Each designer brought their interpretations of the theme to life through original pieces worn by student models. All garments featured on the runway were either designed or upcycled by the student designers.
Third-year student designer Randy Flores created looks that tackled the theme both literally and figuratively. By using materials such as animal hide and fabrics with strong color contrasts, Flores highlighted the balance between right and wrong.
“He did a look where it was like one one part was white, one part was black, so it was very high contrast, and he wanted to signal vice and virtue specifically.” Macias added, “the first themes that I think of whenever I think of vice and virtue is how people kill animals to survive, but they need it so it’s where does that really stand.”
Other designers, like UC Irvine alum Reyna Sun, embodied the theme through more contemporary approaches.
“My collection is based around the Madonna-w***e complex and the harsh all or nothing the female body is subjected to, while men get to exist in a more gray area of sexuality, and so for women it’s the w***e, the vice, and the Madonna virtue,” Sun said, as relayed by Macias to New University.
Macias’ own collection expanded on similar motifs, implementing elements often associated with manifestations of either vice or virtue.
“I tried to tie that into clothing by using leather and lace to signify innocence and purity and like dominance and stuff like that, so it was just a lot of high contrast, but it was mainly supposed to be explaining how humans interact with that spectrum of [morality],” Macias said.
The runway received positive feedback from both attendees and participants. Second year student model and marketing committee member Afton Fosseen found the sense of community to be the most meaningful part of this experience.
“It’s so fun. I’ve just had a really great experience, and everyone’s super open and welcoming, and everyone’s like, ‘oh, what’s your name?’ And they’re really just welcoming,” Fosseen told New University.
The Fashion Collective is aiming to provide a space for student expression at UC Irvine, and the annual runway show has become a space for students to bring their visions to life.
“I think having the opportunity to even get your feet wet and get out there before you know you’re kind of in the real world is like the most important thing for me, and I just want to create an experience where people can [be in a] judgment-free zone, just do whatever they want,” Macias said.
The runway show marked Macias’ first major solo project within the Fashion Collective, and he is already considering ways to elevate his work in the future.
“There are definitely things I would change, and I already was thinking [a] few days after, like I want to improve, especially for next year if I do it again, but I think for what it was, it was really well, like it went really well,” Macias said.
Briana Chen is a Features Intern for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at brianac6@uci.edu.
Edited by Aditya Biswas and Tracy Sandoval.