May 6th, 2016, keep your eyes peeled for posters around HBHS advertising the upcoming spring fashion show hosted by Hollis Brookline’s Fashion and Retail Merchandising class. The participating designers, models, and escorts will have rehearsal time on Thursday, May 5th from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, while the show will take place on Friday, May 6th from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm (give or take some practice time before the show).

“The fashion show is an extension of Fashion and Retail Merchandising and it allows the students of the class to show what they learned while pairing it with raising awareness in our community,” said Candice Hancock, Fashions & Retail Merchandising supervisor.

Last year, the show was called the “Four Seasons Fashion Show” and all proceeds went to Catie’s Closet. According to their website, “Catie’s Closet improves school attendance and removes social stigma by providing an in-school resource of clothing and basic necessities to students living below the poverty line.”

This year, all proceedings will go to Cast, an informative conference that creates an awareness of drugs in school and in the home.“We can’t decide if we’re going to do ticket prices or donations,” said Hancock, “It’s still up in the air until April.”

The Fashion and Retail Merchandising course is offered every two years. 2014 was the first year that the course was extended towards students. This will be Hancock’s second year managing the course. “I created the class, proposed it to guidance and administration, and they put it in the course guide in 2014,” Hancock stated. Although there is not a year long Fashion and Retail Merchandising II course offered, it is only the second year and there is still the possibility yet.

The course includes History of Fashion, Fibers and Fabrics, Producing Fashion, Fashion Marketing, Fashion Careers, and lastly, Merchandising and Retailing. The course is offered for sophomores, juniors and seniors.

“It’s quite a bit of work for a semester course,” Hancock stated “[but] it’s really fun senior year,[to] go out with a bang.”

The theme in 2014 was “Months” and according to Hancock, “They could choose whichever months they wanted, based on some of the clothes they have in their own closets.” There are no winners, as “they just showed the months” Hancock explained “students who weren’t in the class were models”.

In 2014, both Bridget MacMillan, art teacher, and senior Niki Maragos were models. MacMillan modelled for Hannah Wilson ‘14 with English teacher, Fox as her escort. Their season was November.

“I’ve never done anything like that before,” Macmillan stated, “what I wore was like what I would wear during Thanksgiving.”

Niki Maragos modelled for Monica Schneider ‘16 with Kayne Robert ‘16 as her escort. Their season was December. “The runway, I would say, was my favorite part,” Maragos states.

The models and escorts got their clothes from their own closet while the designers got theirs from Bloomingdale’s. “I didn’t encourage them to buy new clothes,” Hancock said “they just used their own, which work[ed]out well.”

There were no prizes offered for the show, but there were shoe design competitions held inside of the class to narrow down the four categories, art, sports, music, and local flavor. For whichever shoe (within one of the categories) that wins, the owner gets a $25 gift card and can keep the shoes. The voting is online, just like as with the gingerbread house competition for Foods and Nutrition I Shoes are provided by Vans Custom Shoes.
It’s still a few months until the show, but already excited students of the 2nd semester course are coming up with ideas. Amanda Mann ‘16 expressed“I’ve already picked out my models, it’s going to be a fun, easy class.”