On April 27, St. Francis College (SFC) held its second annual student fashion show. Conceived and sponsored by the Fashion Club, under the guidance of the College’s Student Activities Office and Office of Multicultural Affairs, the event featured original apparel designed by SFC students. The theme of this year’s show was “Fashion Through the Years.”

“Fashion is cyclical,” noted senior Gabriella Nascimento de Oliveira, president of the Fashion Club and the fashion show’s director for the second consecutive year. “Trends are always coming back. At the same time, fashion is very much related to the present. It is interesting to think how colors, shapes and textures change as society goes through specific moments.”

Forty-seven ensembles — more than double last year’s number — by independent designers as well as by members of St. Francis College’s numerous multicultural clubs were modeled in this year’s SFC Fashion Show. The independent designers included first-year student Astra Baker, junior Cassie Baxter and junior Leila Olivier, while members of the African Students Association, Black Student Union, Brazilian Students Association, Caribbean Students Association and the National Association of Black Accountants created designs, many of them upcycled, drawing attention to sustainability in fashion.

The Fashion Club recruited the show’s designers, models, stylists, make-up artists, hair stylists and production crew. From design to event management, every aspect of the show was led by students. St. Francis College currently offers a minor in fashion retail management.

It has been a banner year for the Fashion Club. Their inaugural fashion show, “Chrysalis,” held in May of 2022, was attended by more than 100 people, making it one of the most popular student club events held at St. Francis College in the 2021-2022 academic year. In addition, the club won two 2022 SFC Student Government Association awards: Best Event of the Year, for the “Chrysalis” fashion show, and Best Special Interest Club. More recently, the club published the second issue of Couture, a 40-page, full-color fashion magazine. All of the magazine’s content, including the writing and photography, was generated by students, who also oversaw the layout and design as well as coordinated the printing, distribution and publicity efforts.

“This year’s show brought a new concept to a new place — our new campus,” said de Oliveira. “Our goal was to offer an immersive experience with different elements of fashion and a ­­high production value. I think we accomplished that.”

For more on the Fashion Club, visit their Instagram page at sfc.fashionclub.