The 29th annual Lunar Gala was a great success. I had never attended a fashion show before, so I have to admit that my expectations were very low. However, as soon as I arrived at University Center, I realized this was no small student endeavor. The line to get in wrapped around the black chairs and out the door. As we waited, I found myself wondering if the show would justify the long line. “Isn’t it just a few outfits?” I asked my friend, “What’s the big deal?” As we walked into the dimly lit gym, it was difficult to find a seat in the crowd of students, proud parents, and fashion enthusiasts. The show opened with an elaborate dance, giving the first indication of the grand scale of the show.
As the night continued, I was surprised to see how much effort was poured into each part of the show. Models walked out in perfectly uniform rhythm, wearing baroque costumes, and struck multiple poses. Behind them, a wide screen provided a literal and contextual backdrop for the designs, with digital visuals displaying nature, colors, and more. In addition, each scene was accompanied by student-produced music, which helped set a specific mood for the pieces and immerse viewers in a fantastical reality.
Reading through the program, I realized just how much effort is put into this show. The theme of the show often follows the Lunar calendar. This year’s theme of Elysium was inspired by the fact that 2025 is the year of the snake. In Greek mythology, Elysium is the final resting place, a paradise of sorts. Each year’s theme is decided in May, 10 months before the show.
Producers Katherine Wang and Jeffrey Zhang worked together to weave the year of the snake into this year’s aesthetics. “For me, I’m a very passionate person, especially about what I want to do in the future … Whenever I’m writing music or just spending time with things I love, I feel really happy,” Wang shared. “That’s like paradise for me. But it’s not necessarily a destination that you want to go to, it’s just the act of doing something you love. So we wanted to highlight that aspect in the theme … the journey you take to go somewhere.”
The show was broken down into four acts: Emergence, Blossom, Hubris, and Embrace. Each act contained designs related to the act’s theme. For example, first-year designer Amy Cha, a fine arts major, designed a line about the balance between the id, ego, and superego. Her designs were featured in Act 3, and the conflict between these ideas captures the act’s theme of hubris
“My portfolio reflects the fluctuating interplay between the phases … one line has very clean lines, the white look, while others are very extravagant and avant-garde in a way … the last [piece] is supposed to represent the balance of all the forces,” Cha said. “So it’s composed of clean, straight lines as well as the red, abstract figures that go around the body.”
“[The acts], in a way, highlight a journey, like a storyline,” Wang said. “So, when you emerge, you don’t really know who you are, and then when you blossom, you become someone you’re proud of, but then you hit hubris … maybe your ego gets too big or you hit a roadblock … but then you grow into a better person.” Every designer works to create pieces that showcase what “Elysium” means to them personally, and their unique pieces demonstrate the versatility of the theme. There were certainly a lot of elements of the show which were left up for interpretation and made me think long after the show had ended.
It takes a great number of students to make the show come to life. “When you see Lunar Gala, you see the models, obviously, you see the clothes … but there’s 150, maybe even 200, other members that are involved in the show behind the scenes,” Wang said. Many students even take on multiple roles for the show. Katherine herself was a producer, sound designer, and model. “It was a lot of work, but it was all work that I love to do,” she shared. I wondered if it would be nerve-wracking to be a model and walk out on stage with so many eyes on you.
Katherine shared that she has struggled with stage fright in the past, however, she feels more calm than scared when modeling for Lunar Gala, saying, “When you walk out and you have your look on and you look super pretty — you feel so powerful and confident … It’s a great experience.”
The show had nine total sound designers who started collaborating early on with the costume designers to create accompaniments that expressed the tone of each scene. The Head of Production, Tepper junior Nick Barreto, also worked as a sound designer in past Lunar Galas.
“In sound design … the designers — those who make the clothes — meet with the sound designers a couple times … throughout the year from Oct. to Feb. to talk about what kind of goals the line has, what they want to bring out about their line, [and] the concepts of their line,” Barreto shared. He shared that he had knowledge gaps while putting together this year’s show since it was his first time trying to set up a production. He often consulted his stage managers, Lucy Gunther and Ella Sanfilippo, who have spent years working with Lunar Gala. “I would say I had an amazing experience as Head of Production,” Barreto said. “I did learn so much, and my team was so amazing this year. They were really helpful in all aspects.”
The final production came together nicely. I was struck by how cohesively the designs flowed with the music, lighting, and videos. It was a beautiful show, but are months of hard work and late nights worth it for just a two-hour show? Amy Cha says yes.
“I feel like the process was very hard,” Cha said. “But every designer felt like, ‘Wow this is so worth it,’ at the end of the show. Especially when we walked on stage and met our friends, and they handed us flowers. That’s when I felt like, ‘Oh my god, I actually did this.’”
As an audience member, it was heartwarming to see students rush to the stage, greeting their friends with flowers after the performance had finished. Friendship seems to be a core tenet of the show. Many people find their close friends through their involvement. “I think it’s been the most formative experience for me at Carnegie Mellon, and the way I have met the most amazing, lovely people,” Barreto said. That spirit of community seems to characterize Lunar Gala as a special experience for many Carnegie Mellon students. As the students took their final bows at the end and hugged each other on stage, I decided the long line to get in was worth it.
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