Members of IFC and Panhellenic model fashions from West Village. RACHEL DUKE/The Daily Campus

Alpha Chi Couture drew the largest crowd in the fashion show’s four-year history, and raised $23,000 thanks to the generosity of those who attended the event Friday night. The record-breaking donations this year were almost twice as much as previous years, and nearly as much as the $25,000 raised in 2006 and 2007.

Fran Kinsey, an SMU graduate and head alumnae chair, said to everyone who contributed, “Your generosity gives hope to these victims.” The victims Kinsey referred to are battered women and children cared for by the Genesis Women’s Shelter of Dallas.

The event, planned since last spring and hosted by Alpha Chi Omega’s Beta Kappa Beta Dallas alumnae chapter and their Iota Sigma collegiate chapter at SMU, took place in the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field Airport. The fashion show was sponsored by West Village and retailers such as Assembly, Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, Epic and Glass Slipper. Jan Strimple, noted model and producer, emceed the fashion show.

Hugs were exchanged, and excited squeals of girls spotting their sorority sisters filled the air as people poured into the Flight Museum. Numerous pictures were taken, and the booths for the silent auction were abuzz with curious people. The upbeat music in the background and the lighting set a realistic mood of an actual runway fashion show.

In 1992, Alpha Chi Omega voted nationally that their mission would be to support victims of domestic violence. The local chapter of Alpha Chi Omega chose to serve the Genesis Women’s Shelter, which was established in January 1985 and serves over 700 women and children each year who are forced to leave their homes and seek refuge. Their mission is to provide safety for endangered women and children and break the cycle of violence through counseling and outreach efforts.

“It is amazing to see women making a difference,” Kinsey said. Alpha Chi Omega “brings women together in helping other women.”

A portion of Friday’s donations goes toward the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, which supports the educational and philanthropic purposes of the sorority through effective fundraising and stewardship of financial resources. It also provides benefits such as scholarships, educational assistance grants and opportunity grants for victims of domestic violence.

Alpha Chi Omega’s PR chair Stephanie Sawyer, a junior markets and culture major said, “I got involved to help bring this event up to the next level.” Going to the event a few years ago fueled her interest in becoming more involved. She said it also helped to make the Alpha Chi Couture even more of a success in order to better aid those women and children of domestic violence.

Sawyer said there was a committee of both women of the Iota Sigma and Beta Kappa Beta chapters of Alpha Chi Omega who oversaw the planning of this event. In the month leading up to the show, girls could be seen in classrooms, the gym and all over campus sporting the black T-shirt with red and white lettering, which read “(alpha chi) COUTURE.”

Enthusiastic hoots, whistles, non-stop picture snapping, clapping and cheering from the audience and the girls of Iota Sigma accompanied the alumnae and undergraduates – male and female – as they walked down the runway.