The curriculum in Melissa Chessher’s fashion class was a bit different Tuesday than a regular class.

Instead of talking fashion and the influence it has on society, she asked her students if everything was ready – hors d’oeuvres and all.

Tuesday marked the launch party for Salty Style, a blog created by Chessher’s fashion and beauty journalism class.

Plates of food dotted tables as students from the class arrived early to help set up the area around the Halmi Room in Newhouse 3. Dressed to impress, the students in the class mingled with supporters and fans of the blog.

‘Newhouse students are experienced writers, but you also have design students who have fabulous design knowledge and experience,’ Chessher said, ‘We had different perspectives, so I thought that we should all put this together and get it out there. This is something that doesn’t exist and people really respond to.’

The name came about from Syracuse’s nickname as the Salt City, Chessher said. She also laughed at the fact that there are large amounts of salt sprinkled on the roads during the winter.

”Salty’ is humorous and has personality,’ she said. The 15 students enrolled in Chessher’s class maintain the fashion and beauty blog. Students post two blog entries, complete with pictures and links, daily.

Chessher said the mix of journalism and design students inspired her to create the blog.

Students began posting blog entries several weeks ago, but Chessher and the class wanted to work out the kinks before letting the public view their work.

Junior Sara Armet said Salty Style isn’t just another fashion blog.

‘A lot of blogs are image-focused. They feature a lot of eye candy,’ Armet said. ‘But ours is more opinionated and trendy. We elaborate more on our articles.’

AJ Ellis, a junior management student, said the blog offers students the chance to talk about styles and trends. The focus of the blog is fashion and beauty, on which other student publications on campus don’t focus.

Chessher admits there are many fashion blogs out there, but none of those blogs filter their content to address Syracuse University students.

‘We live in Syracuse, we spend our time in Syracuse, and we dress for Syracuse,’ Chessher said.

Tuesday night’s launch party also featured a 1994 documentary about Isaac Mizrahi, an acclaimed fashion designer. Chessher said they chose the particular film because it lets students go behind the scenes in the industry. Mizrahi’s documentary won over the more recent Coco Chanel film.

Future plans for the Salty Style blog include overseas blogging and a larger Web site.

‘A lot of us are going abroad to the London College of Fashion, so we thought it’d be really cool to try and continue it over there,’ Armet said. ‘Students can use the site and see what’s going on with London fashion.’

Chessher said she wants the site to expand into a larger and more cohesive Web site. She intended Salty Style to be similar to a magazine and would like to incorporate slideshows and videos into its content.

Jwong04@syr.edu

Published on November 18, 2008 at 12:00 pm