Each year, Fashion Design seniors create final thesis collections for Moore's annual Fashion Show. One student's looks are chosen to be featured in graphic assets that the Marketing & Communications department uses to promote the event. Before the graphic design process can begin, the looks are captured on film by a Photography student.
Claudia Rubio ’24 is the student behind the lens for the second year in a row, having photographed the first looks for the 2023 Fashion Show as a junior. Read our Q&A with Rubio and buy your tickets for Moore's 2024 Fashion Show on Friday, May 10 at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.
Can you tell us who you are and what brought you to Moore?
I’m Claudia Rubio (she/her), and I’m a senior Photography major. I’m from a small town in south New Jersey, about five minutes away from Delaware.
I was applying to all these colleges when I was in high school when my art teacher came to me and told me she heard I enjoyed taking photos. She said, “There’s this college I heard of called Moore. You should check it out.”
I started researching and when I was in the city one day, I just popped in here. I did two campus tours and I also shadowed a student for a day. Moore was really appealing to me and the small community was amazing. I felt like I fit right in.
How did you feel when you found out you’d be photographing looks for the Fashion Show?
I shot the senior’s first looks this year and last year, as well as the Fashion Show last year. It was really, really cool! I was so happy to be in the position to work with students in different majors, like Fashion Design and Graphic Design.
We were able to experiment last year and I got to know a little bit about everyone and their projects. I was able to pose the models and express the designer’s ideas through my photos, which was the most important thing I learned.
This year, before I did anyone’s looks, I talked to the designers for a few minutes while the models were getting changed. I asked them to tell me about their thesis projects and what they wanted to convey with the photos. I wanted to make sure everyone had photos that showed their vision as much my own creative process.
When I found out I was photographing the Fashion Show last year, I was very excited to collaborate with the other professionals who were also going to be there. I think being given that opportunity was amazing—it really helped define my love for fashion and helped me find out I wanted to pursue this as a profession.
What is your favorite part about photographing the Fashion Show?
I love how different every student is and the dramatic differences between every shoot. I feel like it really challenges me to make sure that I’m paying attention to every detail.
Maybe one design is more elegant with clean cuts, so I want to make sure I have long lines. If there’s a poufy dress, we’re having fun with it, throwing it up in the air and making sure there’s movement and fluidity. It challenges me in the best ways.
What are you looking forward to after graduation?
I’m looking forward to finding solid ground and figuring out where I’m going to base myself after this. I’ve had quite a bit of clientele from Temple University over the last year and a half, with a lot of dancers, fashion designers and actors. I’ve been able to broaden my portfolio that way, so my main goal after graduation is to find a studio space in the city, grow my portfolio, and work with people from all areas of the art world.
What are some of your proudest accomplishments from your time at Moore?
I got to work with someone who is social media famous, with a couple million followers. I used my status as an art student to reach out to her and ask to collaborate. That really pushed me into a whole new world.
My photos have been plastered all over the city on billboards, ads and on a banner outside of the College. I’ve also collaborated with fellow students in different majors. Being able to broadcast my experience all throughout Moore’s community is really rewarding.
What is your advice to future Moore students and fellow designers?
Don’t be afraid to say no. Coming here was an eye opener for me because I realized I’m very much a commercial photographer rather than a fine arts photographer, and the professors worked with me on rethinking the projects we were working on. Since then, the program has established a fashion photography class and a lighting and studio photography class. Being able to push the boundaries is worth it, because we all have to figure out how to mesh together and work collaboratively.
Pictured: Garment design: Alyssa Lucas '24. Photo: Claudia Rubio '24. Model: Londyn Morris.
