Demarest Hall makes fashion statement with 'Dress to Impress'

On September 26, Demarest Hall kicked off its first coffeehouse of the Fall 2024 semester in style.

This time around, the theme was "Dress to Impress," inspired by the viral Roblox minigame. The event featured bands, a drag show and a fashion show.

The special interest residence hall is no stranger to grandiose themes — last semester they hosted the event "Anything But Clothes But You Have to Wear Something." Just like all of Demarest's coffeehouses, it was completely free of charge.

The evening began with a surprise band that was not listed on the flyer. Zach Soricelli, a School of Engineering senior, was the guitarist and lead singer for the make-shift student band.

"It's very much a rag-tag kind of thing we just kind of did for fun," Soricelli said.

They performed two covers, "Bags" by Clairo and "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. 

"There's just so many covers that I've wanted to play in my time playing music ... Demarest coffeehouse, in general, is an opportunity to make that happen."

A few more artists not listed on the flyer performed, only to be followed by a drag performance. The lounge was converted into a stage and an artist wore a matching one-piece outfit to go along with their dancing and lip-syncing to Charli XCX's latest album, "brat."

Following a brief intermission, the fashion show began. A projector was brought out near the stage so that attendees could scan a QR code with their phones, log in to the website and vote on who was the best dressed for each category of the fashion show. The show consisted of three outfit categories — camp, academia and celebrity.

The Daily Targum spoke with the winner of the celebrity category, who was dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.

Vie Rodriguez Alvarez, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, knew right away who he was going as and assembled the costume together quickly after a trip to the thrift store.

While Rodriguez Alvarez loves going to basement shows, he finds that coffeehouses are a better place to get to know people. 

"I know everyone here which makes it a lot more personal to me," Rodriguez said.

Once the fashion show came to an end, it was finally time for the main bands listed — Macho Monkeys, Hot Dress and Red Woods — to perform.

Macho Monkeys, who spoke with the Targum last semester, DJ'ed between band performances with his signature ape mask, getting the crowd moving around with his usual ape antics. He debuted a new song titled, "Lab Rat," which started a huge mosh in the middle of the floor. Jack Sparrow even got involved.

Everyone sat down on the floor and started a row-boat motion for another new Macho Monkeys song titled, "Evil Wizard." The mosh got a bit too crazy as he had to remind the crowd of mosh etiquette.

Following Macho Monkeys was Hot Dress, an alternative indie rock band with more than 1,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

The lead singer of Hot Dress, Andrew Petrocelli, a Mason Gross School of the Arts senior, spoke about the band's unconventional origin story — they started as members of rival bands in high school.

"We hated each other," he said. "And then both of our bands broke up and we fused like one mega band, and here we are today as Hot Dress."

Hot Dress performed songs from their latest EP, "Room for None," which was released in June.

The mood completely shifted when the final headliner act, Redwoods, performed. This hardcore screamo band sets itself apart from the usual rock bands in the New Brunswick music scene.

If you're into bands like Drowning Pool and Disturbed, or just looking for something different, this band might be for you. Their sound was so loud that it could be heard from Demarest's free expression room.

If you missed this coffeehouse, don't worry because Demarest will be hosting more on Thursday nights throughout the semester!