by: Erin Morrison
Two of Parkland’s clubs, the International Students Association (ISA) and Queens, will be hosting a fashion show on Thursday, Nov. 14 in the cafeteria in the U–wing from 12–1 p.m. The show will take place on the stage and will feature different events. There will be international clothing in the show and international music; it is free to attend the event.
This year’s theme is, “Threaded Together.” Amber Landis, the faculty advisor for the ISA said the theme, “symbolizes how clothing can bring people together across communities and cultures.” Clothes will be provided by and modeled by members of the ISA and Queens groups. Students from both groups will also be playing the music, emceeing and taking photos at the event. Landis said, “The students in ISA and Queens have been involved in planning, marketing and producing this event.” The first dress rehearsal for the student produced fashion show will be held on Nov. 7.
The ISA is a club that has been a part of Parkland for over 25 years. The purpose of the club is to encourage social interaction within the international community, as well as with the local community; all students are welcome to join this club. There are about 35- 50 members, including the President Stivenson Jean-Baptiste. ISA meets weekly and hosts culture fairs, which are events that celebrate cultures from around the world. This fashion show is one of many culture fairs that ISA has every year.
The last fashion show ISA held was this February in collaboration with Parkland’s Student Government Association. The goal of the show last year was to celebrate Black History Month. To do this, the models wore current and traditional African clothing.
This will be the first show ISA is hosting in collaboration with the Queens group. Queens is a group that is dedicated to empowering individuals. The club members are all about empowering women of color and women supporting other women, but you do not need to be a woman in order to join. Members of Queens have been a part of organizing the event, and students from Queens will be modeling clothes in the show as well as emceeing.
Models will be wearing clothes that make them feel empowered and represent different cultures. Marcus Flinn, one of the ISA’s vice presidents and a photographer for the show and dress rehearsal told the Prospectus that, “So if that’s dressing modestly or dressing formally or showing a bit of skin it’s just kind of curated to how you feel about yourself.” Flinn also said that models will be wearing cultural clothes that they either own themselves or are provided by someone else. This includes clothing with African prints and traditional Asian clothing among others. The “Threaded Together” show is planned to be even bigger and more multi-cultural than the show that was hosted last February.
The two fashion shows from ISA in 2019 are not the only fashion shows ISA has put together as part of their culture fairs. However, fashion shows have become more popular, and the students have brought new life to them in recent years. Amber Landis said that, “We want to move away from presenting a stereotypical ‘costume’ version of representing a country and move toward showing how fashion-forward the fashion is in other countries around the world. We also want to highlight super-popular global music and dance scenes, like Afropop and K-Pop.”
The fashion show, which is quickly approaching, is open to all students. It is not too late to participate if you are interested. Contact Amber Landis at alandis@parkland.edu with any questions.
