This week our school participated in a student body fashion show. After more than two months of meetings and planning and brainstorming, followed by weeks of preparation and stress, all our efforts came to a close during a two-hour event. My synopsis of the event? A little stressful (but not enough to matter), a bit of fun (at least in the preparation part), but somewhat disappointing and a lot of anti-climax.

As far back as October we have been aware that there was to be a big-deal fashion show occurring in January. This event would display our talents and drive to the local populace inside and outside the industry, and could result in us making great network contacts. It was drummed into us time and again that this was a big deal, and that we should take it seriously. This was also a competition. We were four teams competing against each other, each representing ideals of “Earth,” “Wind,” “Fire” and “Water.” The prize was reputed to be something substantial, something good that we would actually WANT to compete for.

Our team represented “Fire.” We were to use themes based on the element, as well as focusing on the color wheel that “Fire” would be representative of. The reds, the golds, the oranges, and since fire was the coolest of the elements we had to be as rock n’ roll as we could muster. While the other teams seemed to be mired in poor organization, lack of motivation and copious amounts of in-fighting, we hit the ground running. We had our ideas early and moved swiftly toward refining them. We were the model team, full of good ideas and positive energy and it was all but obvious that we would be the hands-down victors at the end of the evening. So much of the student body was saying as much. Therein lies the problem – instead of moving silently and striking with cruel efficiency, we set a visible standard that the other teams knew they had to shoot for. Before long, the presumed lead became much slimmer.

Even worse – as we were spending weeks putting together our costumes and theme, the other teams were seeing what we were doing and suddenly it became apparent that many of our ideas were becoming THEIR ideas. Wow, THAT’S not cool. Oh well, nothing that could be done about it at this point. No sense in lamenting our new found originality crisis, it wouldn’t solve anything anyway – just plod forward and keep your chin up.

That was one of the best parts – we remained positive throughout the whole deal. We didn’t fight like the other teams. We didn’t grouse and complain like many of the other students. We were positive about it, we were excited about it, and even if we lost the whole event we scored valuable points in team-building.

As the date drew closer we got a better sense of what this would be like. We had secured a large unoccupied space for the fashion show, we had professional lights, sound system, and a real runway for the models to walk down. We had very professional-looking tickets and other print material, and we had a sold-out show. More than 200 seats sold-out, and many people attending standing-room-only. We had a local radio DJ for an announcer, a well-known local comedian acting as judge alongside some local salon owners. Wow! This was going to be something! Our four models were getting nervous as they practiced their walks, which were done to the tune of a 15-minute remix done special for our team by a well-known local DJ.

The night of the event I was seeing the other teams pulling together and it became apparent to me that we weren’t going to win this thing. The hair and costume and make-up for the other teams was improved greatly over the last week or two, and I couldn’t foresee the judges picking our team as their favorite. Oh well, even if our “Sure Thing” edge had suddenly evaporated that’s no reason not to put on the best show we could muster. Personally I liked our team’s look. The other teams were all very feminine and flowery with butterflies and daffodils, while our team was decidedly more aggressive. While one might pick one of the other teams to be your date for prom, our team would have been picked to back you up in a fight! So screw winning, put on your mean faces and scare the snot out of those judges!

When we went into the backstage area we were all informed that we had to be quiet in the back. No cheering or any noise over a whisper. Furthermore, anyone who wasn’t a model had to sit in these two unfinished rooms in the back, to sit and listen to the fashion show going on through a closed door. This was in order to keep the backstage area from being too clogged with people trying to move around. Hmm. So let me get this straight, we’re going to bust our asses for a month or two to get this little fashion show put together, then the day of the event we’re going to stay downstairs working while everyone is mingling in the reception area upstairs, followed by sitting quietly in a little room as the main event goes on? No, I’m sorry, that’s just not going to happen. As soon as the announcer did his DJ spiel those rooms were abandoned fairly quickly. Some of the girls even snuck around the building to watch the fashion show through the front windows. As for remaining silent? Not a chance, all the girls got into it and cheered on their fellow classmates as they nervously took stage. This was pretty much the only pay-off we were going to get for our efforts, so no one tried to stop us from cheering or to corral us back into our cells. Not that it would have done any good anyway.

After the “Water” team won the competition, a good 40 of the students spontaneously walked out onto the runway for an impromptu “dance party” to the music that was playing. You know, kinda like the end credits of Saturday night Live where everyone gets on stage and waves to the audience while pretending they’re having great fun with everyone else on stage? It was sort of like that. One of my classmates, while watching the scene, asked me “Why is everyone up there… dancing?” to which I replied “Because they’re girls.” My friend laughed, then followed up with “But why is JOE up there?” Joe, incidentally, is the other token straight male at my school. I offered up some straight male wisdom in the form of “Same reason… because everyone else are girls!”

After the impromptu dance party ended, everyone climbed down off the runway and started mingling with their parents and boyfriends. I found my girlfriend and her “date” (our friend Ash), and then for lack of better ideas – everyone dispersed. That was it, everyone just quietly went home. It was kind of disappointing in a way. This was presented to us over and over as a “way to make your names out there, and possibly score some valuable networking.” Well not only was there a profound lack of networking opportunity, but nowhere in the entire show were our names mentioned. When our teams walked out on stage we were simply referred to as “The Fire Team,” and in the print programs? Only our first names were printed. This actually irritated me. If our big pay-off was to “make our names” it would have been most productive to at least TELL the audience what those names ARE! Are you kidding me?

As for that massive wonderful prize that was dangled in front of us? The prize that was heralded as something big and important, at one point a trip to Redken HQ in New York City was even suggested as a possibility… the prize was a “jump journal” – basically a day planner for cosmetology students. Not terrible if you’re expecting nothing at all, but if they’re suggesting BIG prizes to us and the winning team walks away with a day planner? There’s going to be a good deal of disappointment in the end. There was one benefit to the prize though: After it was over, none of the other teams resented the winning team for their award!

The next morning at school, the educators told their stories about the wonderful things they saw at the fashion show. One judge said this clever thing while someone else in the audience reacted this way to something else… plenty of stories. Sounds like fun – I’m sorry I missed it. In a way, I do feel like I missed it. Well, we’ll be able to see our efforts in action through the photos that a former student shot ($10.00 for the photos on CD) and the video that one of our educators shot (provided you pay another $10.00 for the DVD). We spent the entire show secluded from the people we were putting on the show for, and everyone enjoyed the show except for the people putting it on. This is expected of course, you can’t be a competitor AND a spectator, but I would have enjoyed the whole affair more if we were somehow incorporated into the mix of people. Of course, I have no idea who all the people were but it seemed to me that it was predominantly parents and boyfriends, and the whole affair felt like we had just put on some sort of high school play.

To be fair, that’s just the disappointed cynic in me talking. This was the first time our school put this thing on, and the first time to do anything like this is bound to be a bit clumsy. I’ve put on plenty of large-scale events of my own, I know how imperfect it can be. Most of the other girls, however, don’t have that same experience, so this show was a valuable experience for them in that regard. The organization and work toward a common goal was a very good team-building exercise, at least for my team it was, and we are all better friends than we were before. I really enjoyed the task, had fun brainstorming the hair and the costumes and putting the models together. That’s my own source of fulfillment anyway – I am a task-oriented person by nature. Hanging a painting on the wall, or selling a painting, are not nearly as important to me as the act of creating that painting.

Maybe next year the school will have learned a few things to do differently. For example, they might want to change the order of things, like having the show first and THEN the reception. I mean what event have YOU ever been to where the reception came first? Furthermore, if it’s name-building that we want to promote, print the damned names! It’s almost comical how badly the ball was dropped when you consider how much the faculty banged into our heads that this whole event was principally about name-building. Finally, I completely understand that it’s not always possible to put on the show AND to watch said show, but it’s completely tacky to garner a profit off the sales of DVDs and CDs that we’ll experience the show through. We’ve already paid for our own costumes and materials (the school didn’t provide funds and prohibited us from seeking out sponsors), maybe a discount on a burned disc would be a nice thing to do.

All those gripes aside, I’d rate the evening a grade of 80%: Far from perfect, needs a great deal of improvement, but it deserves a passing grade.