It could have been a scene from a basketball or football game at N.C. State. Guys milling around, hands stuffed in their jean pockets. Professors patiently waiting in seats. Girls in their shortest skirts, hoping to catch someone's eye. It's a new kind of sport at State: Watching fashion.

At an institution better known for science, engineering and technology, students' passion for fashion design seems to be on a major upswing.

The most recent example: In a courtyard at the College of Design, several hundred people turned out in late April to watch 23 designers and more than 100 models pull off what's likely one of the biggest fashion events in the region -- a fashion show called "Art to Wear."

"For N.C. State, it shows another facet of the university that goes beyond the normal conception of what people think about N.C. State," said Hollin Norwood, a senior studying art and design who directed last year's show and was a designer in this year's show.

Although it was a student production, it smacked plenty of the New York City Fashion Week glitz. Loud pumping music. Too-skinny models. More than a few outfits that no one would really ever wear.

All that was missing was that dean of fashion, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, in a front-row seat.

But this show had other deans: the deans of the College of Design and College of Textiles, Marvin Malecha and Blanton Godfrey, respectively.

The two schools in recent years have collaborated on the fashion show, partly to help bring along budding fashion designers, but also to let students dazzle and entertain with their newfound textiles, design or fashion skills. Those skills include dyeing cloth, designing patterns or sewing garments.

"It's really a good opportunity to showcase what you've done for the year," said Carmen Lilly, a recent graduate of the College of Design and a hopeful future accessories designer who first became involved in the show as a photographer.

Two years ago, she decided she wanted to be in the show. So she threw together a collection at the last minute.

But after working summer internships last year in New York for clothing designers Donna Karan and Alice Roi, Lilly was schooled in the grueling process of creating a fashion collection. It inspired her.

Then she got to see the collections shown at Fashion Week in New York's Bryant Park. That motivated her.

"After that, I was excited about coming back to school and doing a collection," she said. "It inspired me to work harder."

Lilly got started in August. First, she created her designs. Then she gathered all the materials -- including leather, which she had to teach herself how to work with. She then found the right models to show off her designs.

The night of the show, her models strutted down the long concrete staircase onto the runway, showing off Lilly's hard work: leather clutches and shoulder bags in colors such as mustard, salmon and turquoise and various matching earrings and necklaces.

Now she's using the collection as part of a portfolio that she hopes will help her land another summer internship in New York.

Each year it grows

To say the show has come a long way in a short time is like saying Lacoste made an overnight comeback.

Assistant professor Vita Plume, who teaches in the art and design department in the College of Design, came up with the idea in 2002. Until then, students would design clothes for her classes and she would have to critique their work during minifashion shows in hallways. "It was always kind of awkward," she said. "So I thought, 'Why not have a real fashion show?' "

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