Ian Henriquez
Photo of students shopping at the pop-up thrift shop in the quad.
With preceding momentum, Millikan’s Fashion has exhibited non-stop growth since the program began in 2016. Every year, the program hosts a fashion show in front of the Auditorium courtyard where students showcase the garments they have been working on throughout the year. Without a doubt, Millikan Fashion’s springtime show is one of the most anticipated yearly events for Millikan.
An extravagant production such as the springtime runway show takes many hands to assemble. To put together a show this size, lighting, stage, judges, and a DJ are some of the outside resources that are recruited to put the final touches together.
Millikan fashion students brainstormed ways to fundraise money for the fashion show until the idea of a clothing sale was brought up by Advanced Fashion student and COMPASS junior Yathai Pina.
“I really just thought about my target audience,” states Pina. “Thrift stores are becoming so popular with most sales coming from teens.”
Students had been collecting clothing donations across the school to build inventory for the sale.
Brands such as Doc Martens, Nike, and Brandy Melville were donated. Advanced Fashion and COMPASS junior Grace Iannessa said, “We sorted the clothes by type. We got a laugh out of the weird stains or sticky clothing that was donated, which we had to discard.”
From Feb. 13-16, Millikan Fashion took to the rally stage during lunch to run a pop-up, with prices ranging from 1-10 dollars. Students headed over to the rally stage to snatch deals and support the upcoming springtime runway show, roaming through tables and racks of clothing separated by style.
To encourage students to visit daily, inventory was replenished with new pieces throughout the four consecutive days the pop-up was held. After making her rounds throughout the store, QUEST senior Kayla Walker lined up at the register.
“I thought the prices were very good and the clothing is good quality,” she said.
With students embarking on the start of the second semester, Millikan Fashion students are entering the “crunch time” phase of their outfit creation. To multitask bringing to life a thrift store to the Millikan High School rally stage on top of planning the springtime runway show is nothing but astonishing.
The runway extravaganza is free admission, so bring a friend! Millikan Fashion’s annual springtime runway show takes place this May.