PARIS — Everything from zebra prints to musical notes to satin is what you will see at the 12th annual Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School (OHCHS) Shu Box Design’s Fashion Show. All fashion design students at the high school are required to create pieces of clothing, which will be modeled by other OHCHS students at the show.
When Paul Sirois first started the fashion design program, previously known as CAD fashion, it was a way for girls to get into drafting because there is software that can be used to draft clothing. His idea was to get girls interested in drafting so that they might want to pursue a career in things such as building houses or engineering.
The fashion show is very inclusive as it uses students’ diverse talents. Along with the fashion design students presenting their work, other OHCHS students run the lighting and sound and drama club members help with things such as stage managing.
When students in the period four fashion design class were asked how they benefit from the program, some said that they learned life skills that can be used after high school and others said that their sense of style changed.
Lori Millett, a teacher of the CAD fashion program, is proud of their accomplishments.
“I should not be amazed, but I am just so pleased that there are kids that come in who have absolutely no idea how to turn on a sewing machine or how any of this works and at the end of the year we’ve come up with all this great stuff and it’s really nice work.They really do an awesome job,” she said. “I think its important to have this life skill and to give students a chance to have this in high school because once you get out of school your chance kind of goes away.”
The fashion design program has been discussing selling some of the articles of clothing they have made to recoup money spent on material costs, but plans have yet to be solidified. The Shu Box Design’s fashion show will take place in the Eastman Auditorium at OHCHS at 256 Main St. in South Paris on Friday May 1st at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
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