Columbia Fashion Studies Students Compete in O’Hare Fashion Packed Challenge While CTVA Students Document the Action

Campus Communications Staff / Oct 24, 2022

Fashion Studies students look at award through glass.Left to right: Fashion Studies Students Arthur Lopez-Rodriguez, Alicja Hejnar, Ella Bondy, Luis Medina, and Melanie Hansen.
Inside O'Hare airport, with airplane hanging overhead, CTVA students get cameras ready as people in black look on.As others look on, CTVA students get the cameras ready. Left to right, facing forward: Koda Calma, PJ Spitzer, Charles Kennell, Lilly Waterfall, Liberty Thomas, and Suzanne Yorgin.
Fashion Student Ella Bondy sews at a machine with other students sewing in the background.Fashion Studies student Ella Bondy their creation for the O'Hare Challenge.
CTVA student sits in chair while other students stand behind cameras.Left to right: CTVA students Charles Kennell, Bhavana Jain, and Koda Calma
Five Fashion Studies students are participating in the Fourth Annual O'Hare Fashion Packed Challenge, which has all been caught on camera by CTVA documentary students hired by the Chicago Department of Aviation.

On November 3, the final judging and award ceremony will take place for a unique collaboration between Columbia College Chicago and the Chicago Department of Aviation — The Fourth Annual O’Hare Fashion Packed Challenge. This year five Columbia Fashion Studies students are competing in the challenge: Ella Bondy, Arthur Lopez-Rodriguez, Melanie Hansen, Alicja Hejnar, and Luis Medina. To document the competition leading up to the event and create promotional video clips to encourage voting, the Chicago Department of Aviation hired none other than documentary students in the department of Cinema and Television Arts (CTVA). 

Both groups of students participated in the challenge as part of their Columbia coursework: CINE389A Advanced Topics in Documentary-O'Hare Production (CTVA students) and FASH 284A-Workshop in Fashion Studio/O’Hare Challenge (Fashion Studies students). 

At the event, one of five students from the Columbia’s Fashion Studies Department will be named the winner in a competition that put students on a quest to design a fashion to complement an "inspiration item" provided by O'Hare retailers. The students' designs incorporated recycled materials provided by O'Hare airline partners and have been put on display at the airport, where passengers have been invited to vote for their favorite.  

“The most meaningful part of this experience for me was being able to have so much freedom to showcase my abilities,” says Fashion Studies student Melanie Hansen. “I also enjoyed seeing everyone else use their creative abilities in this challenge.” 

The short student-made videos about the competition currently play inside O’Hare on flat screens and feature the students discussing their style and inspirations and promote voting. 

“It excites me to see our video being displayed on the screens of O'Hare. This means that people I don't even know are viewing our work while they pass by to catch their next flight,” says Liberty Thomas who co-produced the videos along with fellow CTVA student Lilly Waterfall. “It's crazy to think about the high amount of visibility that these postings are achieving.” 

Students will make their final presentations to a panel of judges on November 3. Votes are combined and tallied, and a winning fashion selected. 

Here is where you can watch the videos, view the designs in progress, and cast votes.  

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