Last Sunday afternoon, the guys and girls of UR put on their best Magnum faces, fiercest leather jackets and Lady Gaga sparkling shades and made their way to Sloan Auditorium for the Spanish and Latino Students in Training for Awareness, or S.A.L.S.I.T.A., annual fashion show. This year’s theme, ‘A Night in Our City,” portrayed an array of sophisticated, funky and sexy attire.
In Between the Lines Improv Comedy Troupe hosted the show and really brought a humorous attitude to the event.
The guys certainly brought sexy back to UR. At center stage, male models stood ready to grease up their abs while others prepared to place gift boxes around their genitals in imitation of ‘Saturday Night Live’s” infamous ‘My Dick in a Box” sketch.
The girls also brought something special to the show in fierce outfits, presenting a mix of haute couture and original looks from their very own campus closets.
As I looked around the room, decorated like a scene from ‘Sex and the City,” I noticed a crowd as diverse as New York City and as excited as if they were at Madison Square Garden. The scenery definitely was in line with the ‘A Night in Our City” theme.
Paramore’s ‘Misery Business” blasted through the speakers as the first set of models came out to strut their stuff. The crowd was ready for an evening of top model action.
But the crowd wasn’t the only thing that was diverse in that room. The song selection was composed of Latin tunes, hip-hop jams, rock hits and everything in between.
As the models ripped the runway, they too showed much diversity. Being of all different shapes, sizes, races and colors, they showed the crowd how versatile beauty can really be.
At the end of the first segment of models, the crowd was shocked and entertained by a guy dressed as a knock off Lady Gaga, whose blonde wig, hot pink tights and great imitation made everyone go wild.
Other performances included acts from the all female a cappella group Vocal Point, followed by a hip-hop piece from D’Motions Dance Group. Sihir Belly Dancing Ensemble made a lively appearance as well, as they shimmied into the auditorium with chiming bells around their hips as they shook to tune of Chris Brown and Lil Wayne’s ‘Transform Ya.” All of the performances were unique in their own right, but everyone was really in for a treat when Indulgence, UR’s high energy hip hop dance team, came out and performed to a mix of songs.
Toward the end of the evening, the moment all the ladies in the room were waiting for came faster than expected. For some, this moment was when members of In Between the Lines exposed their underwear and bare skin, while for many of us it was the underwear modelling segment of the show.
For most of us, Sunday was our only chances to see our male peers in ‘Family Guy” boxers, off white tighty-whities and gift boxes masking their packages in a room full of people. The show sure did bring surprises, and that was definitely one of them. The girls in the audience hooted and hollered at the guys as they walked their most seductive walk and posed like they had done it before.
It was a good night, with fashion comparable to that you’d find in Elle Magazine and models who weren’t afraid to walk the side aisles of Sloan Auditorium for the entertainment of their peers.
This was all in good fun and good spirits, as S.A.L.S.I.T.A. put this event together as a way to raise money for the recent Chilean and Haitian earthquakes. So when the girls showed a little leg and the guys showed off their biceps, it wasn’t just to get our hormones raging and our blood flowing to the right places. Instead, they were doing it for a cause bigger than all of us.
Cooper is a member of the class of 2012.
