The Aggie Modeling Machines: Couture Productions and Verge Modeling Troupe (Part 2)

NC's Competitive Titans:

Couture and Verge are now known for being fierce competitors. You can't talk about either without mentioning their success in wupping ass as stuck up as their members are (Ugh! I know ya'll are about to get a thrill out of this article Aggies!). Both troupes have been known to sweep 1^st or 2^nd place trophies over their existences, with minor slumps here or there for one or both.

Couture:

Couture became a heavy competitor around 2004-2008, upsetting many events. Over time, C.P. has managed to create various incarnations of itself, but still remained true to a core style and creative execution (a feat that most troupes, athletic teams, musicians, and corporate companies cannot duplicate). To date, I have seen seven different evolutions in this group's interpretation of performance runway, the first being the 2002 Ensembles Modeling Competition held at WSSU. A friend of mine has their performance on tape. Oh how I'd love to see the look on my CP friends' face as I'd play that sickening vintage video to them, very 1999 Mozik Modeling Troupe-esque! LOL No, Couture didn't place (MMT did). 

Couture won many battles in a string from Spring 2006-spring 2009. Their most notable season being the 2007-2008 academic year, when they beat Epiphany of WSSU (who had been previously undefeated since 2006 in four competitions), won the 2008 CIAA Concoction against troupes from JCSU (Unparalled/Fasho), UNCC (X-Factor/Infinity), Livingstone College (Entourage), and WSSU (Vice Versa). Couture was on a high, until crashing low at the "NC's Best of the Best" competition (and I was glad surprised), not placing at all against 4 challengers, including Verge. 


The following year, the troupe was placed on suspension by the university, and had to stand by and watch as Verge not only borrowed CP's signature banji-pump and flamboyantly choreographed movements to the 3^rd power, but stole the limelight as NC's top modeling troupe (it was then that Couture won my sympathy).

Clips of Couture's models during the
2008 Aggie vs. Ram Battle of I-40

Below: Couture's "Circus" piece performed at the Aggie vs Ram Battleground (2008) competition. 

Verge:

I don't know much about all of Verge's competitive history. All I know of them was when I was first introduced to the larger collegiate modeling world in the spring of 2006 and onwards. They were seen as good competition against the troupes of my university back then, but not an unconquerable foe. Verge lost to both WSSU's troupes at two competitions that year, and won a rematch against one in 2007. The organization dropped off the radar (and fell off…hard) in the 2006-2007 school year and wasn't really heard from until spring 2008 when it went against groups from the Raleigh, Durham, and Greensboro regions in a competition that pitted the "best" troupes in NC against each other (though how the best was measured and tested is unclear, but I digress).



Verge won against all other troupes performing, including rival Couture, who did not place. The show Verge put together, "Coming to America" was inspired by the 1980's film starring Eddie Murphy and is one of their most aggressive and seamless spectacles. The triumph of this return to form set Verge as NC's top modeling troupe, a throne that was tested in April of 2009 at the Dennis Hayle Competition against Couture at A&T's campus. Though the judges awarded Couture as the winner, the audience overwhelmingly placed their support behind Verge and cried foul play! 


Verge and Couture have been noticeably absent from the competition circuit since the spring of 2009. Both troupes competed in "Walk Wars 2010," a competition held in Greensboro, NC against Bon Vivant and Paradyce (NCCU), Belle J'Adore (of St. Augustine College) and Vike Nu (of Elizabeth City State). Verge emerged victorious with CP placing 2^nd.

Below: The "Coming to America" piece Verge resurrected from its show vault and won the troupe 1st place in April 2009 at the NC Best of the Best Modeling Competition. 

Conclusion:
The impact of these troupes is the emergence of several imitators such as Infinity from UNCC, Black Millennium from Fayetteville state, and others who take various elements from the two titans and swagger jacked creatively borrowed from them. While their past style is being used by current "top dogs" the A&T Machine has stayed close to home and nurtured new styles of walking, i.e. Couture's once signature strange banji-pump being replaced by its older, more classic wheel barrel. 


With their annual homecoming fashion show fueling their constant need for novelty and shows of epic proportions, A&T's performance modeling will be a major player in NC's modeling community. However, how they will fair against troupes that have mimicked and adapted to their style and aesthetic is up for the future to decide.


Articles from the A&T Register:
Battle of the I-40 Hits the Runway (Couture)
Verge Models Steal the Show (tells about the first time they did "Coming to America" in 2002, nothing wrong w/ a little recycling)