Student fashion show goes virtual, raises funds for WHO

  • April 10, 2020
Cornell College senior Leonard Stewart Jr. isn’t letting the pandemic stop him from mounting his April 18 fashion show. Instead, he’s taking his show online and monetizing it to support the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Response Fund. The video runway show by his label SSTEW3 is titled “A Trip To Tomorrow” and explores design for the future. “Environmental issues will become as apparent in our daily lives as the coronavirus has. With fashion being among the top 10 polluting industries in the world, SSTEW3 accepts the challenge to stop pollution in fashion,” says the business management major.  Stewart explains that SSTEW3 is a theoretical chemical compound (hence the use of the SS₃ logo) that breaks down garments into their original fabric form to create new garments using plant-based products that can be recycled or biodegrade after its use has run out. The show will be pay-per-view by virtual ticket for $1, available the day and time of the show (1 p.m. Saturday, April 18). Twenty percent of profits will be donated to the fund. Stewart is at home in St. Louis (where he did an internship with Susan Sherman, co-founder of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund) while distance-learning with his Cornell professor and classmates. “Classes are going steady, and I'm still able to learn so I have no complaints,” he says.