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Yoji models an original design by third-year art student Aaron Valenzuela. Student designers will

Tonight, those who choose to enter Ackerman Grand Ballroom will experience a revolution. Created by and for UCLA students, this revolution is a multimedia event produced by UCLA Fashion and Student Trends, a campus organization that provides students with the opportunity to take on different roles as they work together to create, among other things, a completely sweatshop-free fashion show.

“This is an issue that is not talked about at all, but it is really prevalent in L.A.,” said Shaggy Bajrami, the club president and head organizer of tonight’s event, about the organization’s anti-sweatshop stance. “We have a huge immigrant population and a lot of sweatshops, and there is no fashion geared at (a sweatshop-free) career at all.”

This, she said, is one of the main reasons she decided to dedicate this year’s entire show to only student designers.

Admission to the event is free, but donations are encouraged, as all proceeds benefit the Garment Worker Center, an employment center that hires immigrant workers at legal paying rates and advocates for worker rights within the garment industry.

T-shirts will also be sold at the event to raise funds for this organization.

The theme of the show is “Revolution,” giving student designers the freedom to choose from an array of concepts for their respective clothing lines.

“We chose this theme because we wanted something that is relevant to the present day,” said Aaron Valenzuela, vice president of the club and budget director for the fashion show.

“However, we’re not trying to make it political,” he said. “It can be a revolution in any form possible. It can be personal, political, visual, whatever you want.”

Valenzuela has participated in the club’s annual fashion show for the last two years as a model and dancer, but wanted to take on more responsibility this year.

“This year I will be both dancing and designing,” he said, and that is in addition to his administrative duties.

Bajrami, now in her fourth year in the club, points out that there are several ways to be involved with the show other than being a designer.

“We have photographers, videographers, models, dancers, stage designers and lighting designers,” she said, outlining various production duties she oversees.

Other key roles include marketing and financial responsibilities, as the logistics of the show are also planned by the club.

“I think it’s an amazing opportunity for students to get behind the scenes,” said Evey Rothstein, a UCLA alumna and one of the designers at this year’s show.

“I do a lot of club shows and underground artist shows, and UCLA is one of the most professional ones that I’m involved with,” she said of the show’s organizational committee. I wish I had known about (the club) when I was there. I was an anthropology major, and designing was just something I did on my own.”

Valenzuela points out that UCLA does not have a fashion major, and that this is one of the few outlets for student designers on campus.

By encouraging student designers to come together in creating the show, the creative and activist elements of the event can truly come together.

“Lots of clothes nowadays are overpriced,” he said. “But this will show people that we do have the capability to make our own clothes.”

Through advocating creativity and originality within their clothing lines, designers can also take action to steer buyers away from mass-produced clothing made in sweatshops.

But such a strong stance against sweatshops was not necessarily an easy one to take.

“When we made it sweatshop-free, it made it hard to fund the show,” said Bajrami, who was part of this decision when it was initially implemented for last year’s show. “Three of the companies we used to use had sweatshops, so we couldn’t allow them to participate.”

The organization has since received little financial help from UCLA.

“With something like fashion, it’s hard do convince UCLA that it’s important,” Bajrami said. “But everyone involved works really hard to fund the show. Still, we will need to finish paying for the cost of the show even after it’s over.”

Rothstein supports these efforts, from both the artists’ and activists’ standpoints.

“I hate the whole conformist thing – how people just buy what’s in the store window of Urban Outfitters,” she said. “The theme of ‘Revolution’ encourages people to do their own thing and trust themselves to be different with how they dress.”

But the show is reinforcing more than just a cultural message.

“Every big label is using sweatshops in other countries, and the way they treat workers is terrible,” Rothstein said.

“Organizations like (The Garment Worker Center) are very important because so many companies are producing overseas. We need this organization to grow so it can oversee what’s going on. And the more we support it, the better job it can do.”