Annual District Fashion Show Cancelled

The annual district fashion show, originally planned for April 6, was cancelled.  Fashion show organizer, Adam Finkleston, made the decision to call off the event in response to many of the participants dropping out last minute.

Finkleston explained that the fashion show had been under-subscribed from the beginning, with only around 16 participants – half what they’d had in previous years. Then, after spring break, a number of people found themselves unprepared or too busy, and withdrew from the competition.

Senior Gaby Azorksy was one person who left the show.

”I’ve been so stressed out with college stuff I haven’t had time to work on my piece,” Azorsky said. “I was still really surprised that the show was cancelled because it really isn’t fair to the other students who have been working for months on their pieces.”

The main issue was that a lot of people planned to do it, and then forgot to get involved. Also, although the show is district-wide, not many students from outside of East get involved. The organizers attributed this to them being intimidated by the prospect of not knowing anyone. Among the participants from other schools was a group from South and a girl from West.

Almost half of the participants were students from Indian Hills Middle School and Trailridge  Elementary School who were involved. Finkleston realized that although the younger participants put in a lot of hard work, they were not at the same level as the seniors, who had been honing their sewing and design skills for years. He decided that it wouldn’t be worth everybody’s time to create a show that wasn’t great quality.

“It was really kind of heartbreaking that we had to make that choice,” Finkleston said. “Because I love that show, and I love doing it.”

Finkleston was perturbed by the idea of asking so many people; professional fashion show judges, venue owners, designers, models, friends and family, and even himself  to give up time for a show that wasn’t going to be exceptional.

“Even for the people who were still excited about it, and working hard, it wouldn’t be worth their while, it would be a five minute show,” Finkleston said.

Finkleston says he has a couple of options that he’s looking into that might give the people who had designs ready an opportunity to show their work. He is reluctant to say too much about it just yet, but hopes to have it worked out in the next week.

“I am really disappointed in the what happened with the fashion show,” freshman Sean Overton, a member of East’s fashion club, said. “After people spent so much time on the design and construction, it’s sad to see it all go to waste.”

Finkleston is still at a loss to explain the lack of interest in the show this year, and hopes next year will be better. He plans to work with Pinky Couture, a local stylist company that works on professional fashion shows, to travel to schools around the district and get people involved.