In order to gain industry experience, sophomores in Fashion II will start preparing their materials for the CCSD Fashion Forward competition.

“My sophomores this year have the same skill level as juniors and seniors in other schools,” Fashion Design teacher Nicole Carlson said. “I expect many of them to excel in the competition.”

The competition is completed in two rounds. In the first round, students must complete a button-up shirt using the fabric provided for by the competition organizers. In the second round, students must create an entire ensemble based on the assigned theme.

“A button-up shirt includes a lot of skills the students haven’t done before,” Carlson said. “Before they started, they did assignments including surging, interfacing and button-holes so that they’d be more prepared. That meant that the students actually started their shirts a little later than kids in the rest of the high schools, since they started a couple [of] weeks ago and our kids are just starting now.”

The theme for the competition is comic book inspired. Students must choose one superhero or villain as an inspiration for their outfit. However, if a student picks a villain, they must represent the persona in a positive manner.

“I think the theme is really interesting,” sophomore Lexie Walker said. “We’ve never really designed an entire outfit before, let alone one based on a theme. It gives us the chance to gain knowledge about the real industry and working on a deadline.”

Students’ button-down shirts for the first round will be judged in three weeks, and a limited number of participants will receive the chance to compete in the final round. Students competing in the final round will receive the chance to model their own designs at a runway show. 

“It’s amazing how we get to try modeling if we make it through,” Walker said. “That’s a chance that a lot of us might not get again. Plus, since we’re our own models for the project, we still have this souvenir of the first full outfit we ever did, even if we don’t get to model it, so that’s really cool.”