Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Students work on West Park Mall visuals

Monday, February 22, 2016
Above is an on-campus visual merchandising display similar to the project displays that will be done at West Park Mall.
Photo by Mariena Carter

Southeast Missouri State University has paired up with West Park Mall in order to give students the opportunity to practice their visual merchandising skills.

Students who participate in this project will have their window display shown in the empty space at the mall where Aéropostale was located. The products of Charlotte Russe and Buckle will be used.

The Buckle visual merchandiser and Charlotte Russe store manager will meet with the students. The project starts today in the mall and the students will begin to set up.

"The first day is the most important," Janna Clifton, Buckle manager, said. "That is when we will be setting up what we're displaying and why we do it a certain way."

Store managers and visual designers of the stores will talk about expectations, the product and their understanding of what they are displaying. After talking to the students, they will let them have free rein to do what they want with the products provided.

This project is not only benefiting students, but also the mall. Once the window displays fill up, it will make the empty space look fuller. According to the workers at both Buckle and Charlotte Russe, West Park Mall has been suffering from different store closures in the past couple years.

It is also free marketing and advertising for the companies involved, because students will be using their fashions, along with the displays.

"It's kind of like Project Runway but in a visual display," Brandon Rains, assistant manager at Charlotte Russe, said.

Students will work on their projects Feb. 29 through March 2. There will be props provided for students like old suitcases and pallets in order to make it all pop.

Students will clean up and return items to the stores on March 7.

Southeast fashion merchandising professor Dr. HJ Cho is the one who initiated the idea. She has been working at Southeast for three years and has already grown the fashion merchandising department. The course FA 114, which is a visual merchandising course, was never introduced at Southeast before Cho started teaching here.

She brought it up to the university and now is teaching the class, which is offered every semester.

"This is a common class for fashion merchandising majors," Cho said.

In the past students were using cardboard boxes and Barbies to try and simulate mannequins in windows. Cho thought of the project idea after a weekend visit to West Park Mall. Plus, she wanted to get her students more involved off campus.

"I went shopping on the weekend and noticed all the empty spaces in the mall, so I thought it would be a great place for my students to do a project here," Cho said.

She soon partnered with Southeast student Nicole Fouche, a wedding dress designer. They both worked hard to get the connections outside of the school.

Cho's main goal for students in this project is to teach them how to find more opportunities through making connections. She wants them to progress from Southeast's program into the real world of fashion merchandising. She will continue to look for projects to benefit her students in order to help them gain real-life experience.

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