Photo courtesy of Fashion Club President, Lauren Bullard

Fashion Club had a meeting where they put together a fashion show with aluminum foil based on neo futurism. This meeting showcased the creativity of their members. (Photo courtesy of Fashion Club President, Lauren Bullard)

Since the beginning of fall term, the growing presence of the University of Oregon Fashion Club has reverberated across campus. After being inactive during the winter and fall of 2024, the club has experienced a resurgence in engagement under the leadership of Lauren Bullard, a second-year business student specializing in marketing, who took over as the club’s president at the start of the year.

Bullard said she wants to create a welcoming environment that challenges the exclusion and pretentiousness often found in fashion communities. She initially struggled with outreach because she wanted to project a club identity that appealed to a variety of different groups.

“After a while, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna kind of do what I think looks good and certainly that’ll appeal to someone,’” Bullard said. “And I think it has because overall engagement has definitely increased.”

The club often organizes hands-on activities for its meetings, such as a tote bag accessorization workshop in homage to Jane Birkin, to ensure that the environment remains accessible to all. The DIY workshops offer a space for people to express their enthusiasm for fashion and avoid the pressures of seminar-style meetings.

“Fashion is just a scary place, and I think that deters people from interacting in meetings,” Bullard said. “But we’re just people at the end of the day.”

Since the university does not offer a fashion program, Bullard’s goal is to create a tangible space that unifies the local fashion scene. She hopes that fostering an environment that is both inclusive and informative will nurture the evolution of the UO fashion community.

A dual-focused content strategy on social media has been a key factor in the club’s newfound relevance in the community. The club’s account posts educational content, breaking down iconic archival looks and current trends, but it also consistently features student outfits, which has proven highly effective at generating engagement.

Bullard said this approach inadvertently targets friend groups because when people see their friends featured, they often tag them, increasing post interaction.

UOFC is more concerned with people’s unique personal style than esoteric fashion knowledge.

“There is this misconception when it comes to fashion that you need to have some grandiose knowledge coming into it,” Bullard said. “But you really don’t. Everyone has an eye for something, and everyone has their own take on what looks good.”

There are no prerequisites to joining the club. “Even if you just come to one meeting and don’t come to the rest for the term, you can still consider yourself a member,” Bullard said.

Club meetings, which used to average around five to 10 attendees, now see upwards of 20 to 30 people each session. Bullard said the experience has taught her patience, comparing the progress of the club throughout the past two terms to experiencing growing pains.

Moving forward, Bullard’s goal is to make fashion seem more feasible at state schools without designated fashion programs. While her current focus is building a community, the eventual goal is to offer members a bridge into the real fashion world by featuring guest speakers and connecting members with professionals in the industry.