Friday, April 12, NC’s Fashion Club set the stage for an unparalleled experience: an eco-fashion show. Taking place in the Performing Arts Center (PAC), students and families could buy a ticket for a mere five dollars on GoFan. The event’s turnout left the audience in awe of the chic outfits and poses.
“The whole point of a fashion club is a way to express ourselves through clothing and fashion. The school has an art club and a music club, but we do not have anything when it comes to clothes and fashion… During our meetings, we come together to pitch out ideas for what we want to do for different shows and we also use our time to run a fundraiser so we can make money to run [events] like [the fashion show],” Fashion Club vice president magnet junior Audrea Eyamo said.
Unveiling as an extracurricular for couture enthusiasts in 2022, the Fashion Club meets every Wednesday after school in room 611 to plan projects and bond over chic ideas. From discussing their specific vogue interests to participating in fundraisers for the club, fashion fanatics can express their ideas freely with peers who hold similar interests.
Out of each project the Fashion Club drafted, they took upon an exciting venture in the fall of 2022. To fulfill dreams of exhibiting ecological fashion, the club proposed a runway reception based on ethically sourced apparel. Raising awareness against the inhumane labor conditions of fast fashion, the show aimed to encourage sustainability through reused clothing and styles.
“The point of this being ‘eco’ is that we are using reusable fabric and material. There is an issue with fast fashion and creating cheap clothes in unfair working conditions, so we decided that we are going to reuse thrifted clothes or donated clothes to put our outfits together. So all the clothes we are wearing are either made [by NC students], taken from fabrics from thrift stores or from old clothes people donated,” Eyamo said.
Prior to the event, staff and models arrived at 6:30 p.m. to set up for the show. The show’s team consisted fully of NC students as models, makeup artists, managers and stagehands. As the models fit into their environmentally sustainable fashion, Fashion Club president senior Ryan Brown and Eyamo organized the plans of the night to ensure they would run smoothly. Fellow students serving as makeup gurus set up their stations for cosmetic artistry and models practiced their struts for the stage.
Once the doors opened, supportive NC parents and friends filled the PAC in anticipation of the show beginning. A pop song accompanied the models’ acts as they paraded solo or in duos with a sassy routine that matched the playing song. Models chose music such as “IT GIRL” and “Flashing Lights” to promote confidence and engage the fans.
After numerous models displayed their looks, the staff took a 30-minute intermission that allowed the models to change for the second set of wardrobes. The audience mingled, took pictures or videos and talked about their favorite looks of the night. Finally ready for act two, the lights set again and the models walked on stage in new, show-stopping outfits. New songs, new makeup looks and new poses kept watchers entertained until the end of the night.
After the last piece, the entire staff joined together onstage for final recognitions. Teacher sponsor Ms. Brooke Payne announced the hair, makeup, modeling and staff teams as the crowd praised their work. The team took a graceful bow and exited the stage, leaving admiring fans in their wake.
