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Miami Palmetto Senior High has welcomed a new fashion committee to broaden the diversity of club selections and foster creativity among MPSH students. Aiming to welcome a variety of clubs that support all students’ interests and hobbies, MPSH makes it possible for any student to start a club to allow students to express themselves through their passions. MPSH junior Oliver Calero founded the fashion committee in Dec. 2022.

Within the fashion committee, the club gets together to work on conceptualizing designs, later sewing them together and bringing those drawings into reality. Afterward, they will put on a fashion show where models will present their designs. Other than just designers and models, the club reaches out to people of all types of skills, such as artists and makeup artists, as well as students who show interest in the marketing and tech aspects involved in putting together a production.

The club focuses on students’ ability to express themselves through their own individual style through a common interest: fashion. In order for everyone to do that while still allowing for the fashion show to come together smoothly, they created a theme for their first show: stars. 

“While everyone may have a different style, which is what harmonizes the show, these sorts of design elements are what bring us all together collectively. Through working through designs and going through each draft of a design, we bring all them together collectively. It’s not just one designer deciding and making choices for their design. Instead, it’s all of us looking at someone’s design, adding our own ideas to it and making a group of work that we all feel we speak through,” Calero said. 

The fashion committee is more than a club that designs outfits and puts on a show— it allows for a creative outlet for many students, especially those who view fashion as a frame for self-expression.

“When we meet, I’m really glad to see people working together [and] coming up with their own visions and how they express themselves. I’m actually very proud of our members and how we’re all coming together as a community. To be able to do that together is really nice,” MPSH sophomore, treasurer and co-founder of the fashion committee Natalie Valdez-Sevilla said. “For me, I really like putting my visions out there because I do a role in makeup for the club, and I like to see what I could do to accentuate the designs the models have, or that the designers have on, and I like to add on to that.” 

Fashion is often used as a form of self-expression, and gives people a reason to complete their everyday tasks, such as going to school, work or going out in public.

“As someone who expresses a lot of who they are through what they wear, I like to use school as a personal runway,” Calero said.

Within the fashion committee, there is a big focus on the environment and sustainability. Not only is it much better for the environment, but the ability to make clothes and sew is a very cost-efficient skill. 

“All we’re using is donated clothes; we’re not buying any fabric, so therefore no waste is created. I think repairing your clothing, making it last longer and making it more in your style instead of just buying something and then deciding, ‘Eh, it’s not quite like what I would like to wear.’ You can make things a lot more sustainable that way. Which is basically all we’re doing, taking things that already exist and making them fit the style that they want,” MPSH junior and fashion committee member Nicole Gonglewski said.

The fashion committee offers so much to learn outside design, art and sewing. The ability to work together as a team and spend a year creating designs together with the end goal of putting on a show within just six months teaches a great deal.

“I believe that being part of this committee shows a dedication to creative management, and especially if you’re on the board [you are] bringing these ideas to life with a group of people. I think it definitely shows management skills, as well as group thinking skills,” Calero said.