By Piper Figallo
College of the Sequoias (COS) is putting on a fashion show. Students are designing and making clothes to display in the show. Jessica Morrison, the Vice president of the College of the Sequoias, talks about what the fashion program is and how it has a great influence on the students. She then goes into talking about the impact the fashion program has on COS’s upcoming fashion show. Lots of insight is given on what it takes to make a successful fashion show that will portray the teamwork and creativity of the school.
Morrison starts off by explaining the reason for the fashion program. Morrison says, “COS’s fashion merchandising and design program provides students with an education in a world of fashion. With a degree in fashion students can go into sewing, designing, visual merchandising, retail management, sales, advertising or marketing, consumer behavior and textiling.”
Morrison describes the opportunities that the fashion program can give students. She goes on to say, “We offer an associates degree in fashion merchandising, so you can transfer on to a four year university.”
Another opportunity is that COS offers, “dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment for highschool students. Dual enrollment is offered at 5 or 6 highschools in Tulare and Kings county. In these classes students learn sewing, fashion merchandising and retail. High school students In Tulare and Kings county can take classes in person at COS for free on the campus.”
Jessica Morrison explains the influence the COS fashion program has on the students.
“The fashion program gives students who are creative and artistic an opportunity to display their talents.”
The COS fashion students help run the Giant Threads professional clothing closet located at the college. This allows students to get a brand new professional outfit if they have job interviews, or if they are attending a professional student conference.
The fashion program at COS provides a wide variety of ways for students to be involved with fashion. The COS fashion show is a big element in this program that brings out lots of excitement and creativity in the students. COS offers a course specifically for the fashion show that is offered every spring where the COS students design their own outfits connecting with the theme, and they find models to display the clothes they make in the fashion show.
The students put on a brilliant fashion show each year. The students have full control over the show, including the theme, to the number of designers, the models, the music, the lighting, and to the entire format of the fashion show.
Morrison explains that “Oftentimes a student who does not have prior sewing or designing experience before taking fashion courses, but who is interested in the world of fashion, can be the director of the fashion show.”
If you have any interest in fashion but do not have much experience in it, the COS fashion program accepts people of all levels of fashion knowledge and these classes will help students gain more experience, and a better understanding of what it takes to work in fashion.
Students put a lot of work and effort into creating a fashion show. The fashion show is always near the end of the semester because the students are working on the concept, the design, the clothes, props, and settings. These things get worked on for the entire semester.
The fashion show is not something that is just thrown together quickly. Immense amounts of care and consideration are put into the show, and it takes time to form something that will display the fashion community of COS.
Morrison describes the importance of having a fashion show and how it is a great way for students to test out their sewing abilities. She says, “The impact of the fashion show on students is that it is the first time many of them will get to design something from scratch and actually showcase it, and understand custom tailoring.”
Morrison also adds, “For students that have a background in sewing in design, it allows them to display all of their skills. It also helps build their portfolio so when they transfer to another school that has a great fashion program, they have something that will help them get admitted into that school.” The fashion program will not only allow students to gain more experience in the fashion world, but it will help them expand their knowledge and use it in their future fashion careers.
It takes a lot of effort to make a good fashion show. Morrison elaborates on this by saying “Lots and lots of patience and teamwork goes into making a successful fashion show. First of all everyone has to decide and vote on a theme, and everyone has to pull their weight and contribute to the group. Everyone also needs to make sure they get their outfit done in time for the fashion show. An extreme amount of consideration needs to go into picking out fabrics and textures.”
For this year’s fashion show, the theme is Twisted Fairytale and it displays the darker side of fairytales through clothes and fashion. The fashion show will take place on May 9, 2023 in the COS Theater. Every year the students design magnificent clothes and put on a fascinating show, so expectations are high this year.
In regards to this upcoming fashion show Morrison explains what she is wanting to see in the show. She says, “I am hoping to see a lot of creativity, and I am also hoping to see that the students have dedicated a lot of time into making the designs fit with the theme, and to have really good tailoring on their models.
The main thing Morrison wants to see in the fashion show is for “for students to be really collaborative and support each other under the stress of a fashion show and just have great teamwork.”
Piper Figallo
Piper Figallo '24 is a student at Redwood High school. Piper is dedicated to using her writing skills to produce great stories for the Redwood Gigantea.