In honor of Las Vegas Fashion Week, the Las Vegas Fashion Council has selected students from the fashion program to present and model their work during a runway show at the Fashion Show Mall on Nov. 14.

This event will be hosted for the first time from Nov. 12-16 in order to showcase various community designs from Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, Centennial High School, Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts and Southwest Career and Technical Academy.

“Fashion Week is a really cool thing. It happens in a bunch of different cities worldwide and it is an opportunity for established design houses and new designers to show off collections and interact with a local community in a way that promotes the local fashion industry,” Fashion Teacher Levi Harbeson said. “The most important things for making a successful fashion student is networking and connecting with people that give them mentorship, industry opportunities, employment, or internships.”

The outfits chosen for this event were completed last year by participants Yvanna Abarico, Gracie Garcia, Rizzael Maniego, Crisha Montemayor, Marleena Tibayan, and Carly Tift.

“I think that Fashion Week is really important, especially for students,” senior Crisha Montemayor said “[Being a part of the show] will give me insight on how I can create my next piece and use other people’s designs as inspirations for my next collection.”

One benefit of participating in this event will be the chance for the students to encounter new opportunities to help them advance in the industry.

“One of the biggest and most important things for a successful fashion student is networking,” Harbeson said. “Connecting them with people that can give them mentorship, industry opportunities, employment, internships, or any of those things. If people know we’re here, we get opportunities. Having this work shown at Vegas Fashion Week has other industry people and local people know these programs exist. These kids have this incredible skill set that they’ve been training for years.”

This event will also equip students with real-life scenarios that take place in the fashion industry. Along with participating in the show, preparing for it will give the selected students a glimpse into the profession and what it entails.

“A lot of times you work with really tight deadlines and really stressful situations,” Harbeson said. “They still have to remain professional, be courteous, prepared and have all those workplace readiness skills. It’s going to prepare them for the real world.”

By acting as the role of both the designer and the model, students will gain insights and critiques on their projects and process. 

“It’s going to be a new experience of fashion in the real world,” junior Marleena Tibayan said. “This [event] is actually going to be in a mall and a different environment … With the feedback that we get, we’ll know how to improve and what we can do better in different circumstances.”

For the six students who will be showcasing their work, this is also a chance to see what other students in CCSD have been working on.

“I’m really excited to see all the other pieces that people have made from different schools and other organizations. They do really good work,” Montemayor said. “I like looking at the other pieces. I want to see the technicalities of it, how other people are able to put pieces together and make a cohesive design, and types of fashion and ways of creating art.”