Florida Foodies, Fashionistas Flock to 'Flourish' Fashion & Food Showcase

Leading Florida fashion designers, celebrity chefs, 700-plus guests to attend St. Thomas University's signature spring event. Students create "McDCouture" from repurposed McDonald's packaging.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., March 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 700 foodies and fashionistas will soon devour creative cuisine from regional restaurants, sip Cuban craft brews, and watch models don leading Florida designers' curated collections and … cheeseburger wrapper dresses? Call it "McDCouture."

Fast-food fashion – designed by St. Thomas University students using repurposed McDonald's supplies – will be among the six collections at "Flourish," STU's fourth annual Fashion and Food Showcase. The university will host its signature spring event from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., April 3, in STU's Gus Machado College of Business courtyard at 16401 NW 37th Ave in Miami Gardens.

The Walk Collective's professional models will strut a runway near food tents featuring haute cuisine and homestyle favorites from more than a dozen Florida eateries. Cuban-American designer Yas González and Jhoan Sebastian Grey, Project Runway's Season 17 winner, will headline the fashion show.

The House of Suits and couture designer Sharon Osp will also participate, and model Sasha Perea will host the event. Perea is Commissioner of Fashion, Arts and Events for Washington D.C. and served as Miss District of Columbia USA 2021. DJ Manuela Vibes will play music.

Featured culinary guests include celebrity Chef Richard Ingraham, Chef Kenny Tang, Paella y Olé Catering, Lorna's Caribbean & American Grille, Sysco, seafood wholesaler Netuno USA, Texas Roadhouse, Jackson Bros. Ice Cream, Sodexo and Zwilling cutlery and cookware.

STU's Fashion Merchandising and Design students are crafting an array of McDCouture, including McFlurry spoon chainmail, a corset, and butterfly-accented Happy Meal Box apparel, by repurposing beverage containers, fry boxes, food wrappers, and other McDonald's supplies.

Students in the university's Culinary Arts, Tourism & Hospitality Management program will create a gourmet tasting display with dishes such as oxtail tacos with fried plantains and a cilantro lime sauce, curried chicken empanadas with mango salsa, and an edible garden.

Event sponsors, STU students flourish together

Guests can purchase $50 tickets via STU's ticket and sponsorship website, and $100 VIP passes provide access to several fully stocked open bars, prime seats, special mingling areas, and other perks. Local businesses, foundations, and individuals can still sponsor the 2025 showcase.

Key sponsors include McDonald's; E.C. Management Corp., a large family-owned South Florida McDonald's franchisee; the family of Jorge L. Rico, co-founding partner of MBF Healthcare Partners, L.P.; the Marile & Jorge Luis Lopez, Esq. Family Foundation; and La Tropical Beer.

The university promotes sponsors throughout the event and publishes pre-showcase sponsor-related posts on STU social media platforms that tallied more than 4 million impressions in 2024. The showcase's messaging also reaches 700-plus attendees, 7,660 students, 808 full- and part-time faculty and staff, and 31,573 alumni in STU's Bobcat campus community.

Showcase proceeds fund overseas training and experiential learning for fashion students and scholarships for the Culinary Arts, Tourism & Hospitality Management program. Nearly 100 STU students are gaining valuable experience organizing, marketing, and running the showcase this year.

The event's "Flourish" floral theme symbolizes STU's vitality during challenging times for academia. Approximately 300 colleges and universities have shuttered since 2008, according to the Hechinger Report, an education publication.

STU enrollment soars as university demonstrates value

STU's enrollment skyrocketed to 7,660 students this spring semester, a 78% increase from 4,302 students when STU President David A. Armstrong, J.D., took office in fall 2018. Next fall, STU's culinary program expects to educate 96 students, just three and half years after its introduction, while the fashion program recently climbed to 60 students despite only debuting in 2021.

Both STU programs took in students affected by college closures. The Miami International University of Art & Design, formerly the International Fine Arts College, shut down in 2023 after nearly 60 years. And Johnson & Wales University's former North Miami culinary campus closed in 2021 after almost 30 years.

STU continues to thrive because of its value, according to a new Florida TaxWatch report. The watchdog group estimates that a typical STU graduate can expect to earn nearly $1.35 million over a 33-year career or $4.18 of additional personal income for each dollar spent pursuing a four-year degree.

"At a time when countless colleges and programs face extinction, St. Thomas University's 'Flourish' Fashion & Food Showcase celebrates the power of higher education to help students blossom," said Dr. Ashlee Rzyczycki, director of STU's Fashion Merchandising and Design program.

President Armstrong's new "Pursue Excellence" strategic plan calls for expanding facilities for the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law and athletics, among other goals. Plus, STU recently asked Florida for $3.5 million toward a new 99,000-square-foot nursing and STEM building that could be worth 16 times that request, generate millions of dollars in future tax revenue, and help fill Florida's nursing gap.

"There is no questioning the worth of STU's Culinary Arts, Tourism & Hospitality Management degree," said Dr. Samer Hassan, the program's director. "Great college programs continually demonstrate value by teaching students to think critically and creatively, master and market valuable skills, and network with future employers. Those are our Fashion and Food Showcase's goals."

About St. Thomas University

St. Thomas University (STU) is one of the South's premier Catholic universities. It is a private, nonprofit institution committed to fostering students' academic and professional success and helping them become ethical leaders in the global community. Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is a Miami Archdiocesan university, the only archdiocesan university in Florida, and one of just 11 nationwide. STU offers more than 60 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs online and on the university's beautiful Miami Gardens via its College of Nursing, College of Health Sciences & Technology, Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, Gus Machado College of Business, and Biscayne College for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. As of spring 2025, STU served 7,660 undergraduate, graduate, and dual enrollment students, a 78% increase since President David A. Armstrong, J.D., took office in the fall of 2018. STU is completing $123 million in improvements, its biggest expansion since its 1961 founding, including adding 400,000 square feet of new facilities. Among other objectives, President Armstrong's new "Pursue Excellence" strategic plan seeks to build a new 99,000-square-foot STEM and nursing building, expand the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, and construct new athletic facilities.

Media Contact: Dan Axelrod | St. Thomas University | [email protected] | 305.474.2418 

Sponsor Contact: Alex Herrera | St. Thomas University | [email protected] | 305.989.8683

SOURCE St. Thomas University