The 2007 Ebony Fashion Fair promises to be a real trip - a "Glam Odyssey."

Celebrating its golden anniversary, the world's largest traveling fashion show makes a stop in Knoxville at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Civic Auditorium.

The 90-minute show, sponsored by the Iota Alpha chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., will feature nearly 200 pieces showcased on two male models and 10 female strutters, including a full-figured catwalker. Steering the extravaganza will be velvet-voiced commentator Jada Collins.

The show will open with a fashion retrospective, with models donning looks from the past five decades.

"The oldest outfits are from the 1950s," said assistant producer Kenneth Owen, who has been with the show 24 years. "It's a pair of vintage men's Brioni suits. You weren't fashionable if you didn't own a Brioni suit back then."

Owen noted that the suits had to be altered a bit to fit the modern male-model physique.

"The guys weren't as buff back then," he said.   more »