by Ilyssa Weiner

Oswego, NY- Fashion at Oswego’s first ever Fashion Week kicked off on Apr. 1.

Imani Cruz created Fashion at Oswego in 2014 after realizing there weren’t any fashion organizations on campus. She was influenced by designers in New York City and Paris.

“I kinda took it upon myself to think ‘You know what? It’d be cool if like we went around campus and took photos of people that were dressed really nice,” she said.

“The week is all about taking pride in how you appear and your appearance,” she said. “By creating Oz Fashion Week, we could light up some fire under students to dress nice just for one week.”

The week started with a pop up shop showcasing outfits created by up-and-coming designers from places such as Syracuse and Ithaca.

Rashaad Holley, a grad student at Buffalo State, is the creator of “Vingt Cinq Rashaad” and one of the designers at the pop up shop. His brand comes from a song lyric about not living past 25 years old.

“I take that and revert it into a positive direction and give people like myself inspiration to ascend as opposed to look at a ceiling and be limited,” Holley said.  

With the success of the pop up shop, Cruz is very positive about Fashion at Oswego’s future.

By Kerry Ryan

Oswego, N.Y. — On Tuesday, October 24th, the Women’s Center at SUNY Oswego held their 35th annual ‘Take Back the Night’ event. The event was originally named ‘Reclaim the Night’. The Women’s Center participates in this worldwide event that’s goal is to raise awareness of sexual violence on campus.

The Deputy to the President at SUNY Oswego Pamela Caraccioli was in attendance that evening. Caraccioli said that it was important to be the best we can and represent this fight against sexual violence.

“We are all human beings. We need to take care of each other. Not just in this college community, but in our community outside of campus; in the communities that you’ll eventually move to,” Caraccioli said.

‘Take Back the Night’ concluded with a march around campus, encouraging participants to carry posters and use their voices to demand the end of sexual violence on campus. The goal of this movement is one that President of the Women’s Center Ryan Rodriguez said he hopes gets people around campus talking and eager to join in.

“The biggest goals of ours is to get people thinking and to get people aware of what’s going on in all of the stigmas around this,” Rodriguez said.

The Women’s Center can be found at The Point in the Marano Campus Center. For information on their upcoming events, visit www.Facebook.com/OzWomensCenter or on Twitter @OzWomenCenter.