New York, New York!
The Big Apple was at the center of Merced High’s third annual fashion show, ‘A Tour of New York,’ hosted last Wednesday, May 21, inside the school gym.
The Merced High CTE (Career Technical Education) Collaborative Fashion Show featured custom, sustainable, and boutique designs curated, designed, and modeled by the high school students.
“This fashion show is completely student-led,” Oscar Corrales, head runway assistant and junior at Merced High, explained to the Times. “We made little dioramas of what we wanted the fashion show to be, and then the students got to decide which one fits them best. This year, the Top 3 contenders were Alice in Wonderland, New York, and Fairy Garden.”
The New York theme of the fashion show was divided into seven unique styling stories representing both New York and Merced. Times Square, Brooklyn, SoHo, Fifth Avenue, Greenwich Village, Central Park, and the school spirit of Merced High School were all represented on the runway.
Under the guidance of Geena Wade, CTE teacher in the Family and Consumer Science Department at the high school, students have learned sewing, fashion basics, and the importance of confidence in any career.
“A big part of the class is fashion instruction and design, but I am also trying to teach merchandising and event planning,” Wade explained of her curriculum, which also teaches the understanding that confidence is an important component of any industry. “I try to share that message because confidence is what you see on the runway. A lot of these students on Day 1 never spoke, they were mute — and then they go on the runway and you just see another person come out.”
Merced High School is currently the only high school in the Merced Unified High School District with a fashion program in place. Several students voiced the program as the main reason why they decided to attend Merced High.
“I found out about Merced High’s fashion program through a friend when I was in sixth grade, and ever since then, I wanted to join the fashion program,” Corrales said of the fashion class. Now a junior, Corrales has participated in several fashion shows in and outside of the high school.
“This is where I wanted to be,” Adison Lazare, designer and model, said to the Times as she explained she transferred to the high school in order to participate in the fashion program. “I can fix my shirts now and the holes in my pants. I’ve learned everything!”
Lazare personalized a pair of her jeans for the fashion show, decked out in custom Merced High details as a show of school spirit.
Madilynn Owens, designer and model of the fashion show, had the opportunity to create and model her design for the fashion show. As a sophomore at the school, she decided to take fashion as a part of her CTE Pathway elective and hopes to remain a part of the fashion shows in the years to come.
“It’s a really great opportunity,” Owens said of the two-year program. “Now I know how to sew, and if I have a hole in my sweater, I can easily just patch it up. I want to continue being involved in fashion and volunteer as much as I can.”
For more information on the Merced High Fashion Show, you can connect with the group on Instagram @mercedhigh_fashionshow.