Last Thursday night Tufts China Care LUX fashion show brought together fashion, music, magic, and charity to create what can surely be called one of the great events of the spring semester. Her Campus sat with Executive Producer Jessica Zhang and one of the founders and this year’s Senior Board Adviser “Yen” Alexis Yuen and model manager, board advisor, choreographer Amy Wipfler, and models Avantha Arachchi, Alec Schilling and Tabea Rosenkranz to get feedback on the show.
This year’s show saw about 550 people in attendance and was a much larger production than previous years. “Although we’re still waiting to get back numbers on how much money we raised we feel the show went as well as expected, I’m over the moon it worked out well,” says Amy. The two and half hour show featured multiple model dances, a magic show by LUX model Marcell Babai, a beautifully done dance by Tufts Pulse and two musical acts from Bobby and the Boys and the Plusquam Perfectos, as well as an impressive opening number performed by Akua Abrah, Rashad Davis and Montel Yancy and Matthew Seaton.
“We’re still extremely overwhelmed, but everyone came together and made it happen,” explained Yen, “we’ve gotten back feedback from so many of the models and other audience members about how impressed they were with the show and many even volunteered to help with the show next year. But by far the best part of the show were the people, without all of them we couldn’t have done this.” It was evident sitting in the audience just how supportive the models were of each other. “Everyone helped on another, people were stepping up and doing things they weren’t necessarily assigned to do and since one of our models, Taylor, couldn’t performed due to medical complications we wanted to do the best show for him.”
A highlight of the show was the China Care slideshow set to One day by Matisyuahu covered by Bobby and the Boys. “I was really touched by the Bobby and the Boys performance, one of the performers dropped out at the last minute but they were nice enough to step up. We didn’t know Bobby was going to give a speech but it was very impassioned and moving. I felt like it only elevated the message behind the entire night” said Yen. Another highlight of the night was the crowning of the best male and female models; Meth Bandara and Avantha Arachchi took the titles respectively. “We were all really happy about Avantha’s win. We want LUX to be a super inclusive event and his win represents that message,” said Jessica. When asked about his victory Avantha said, “At first I was confused but I was really excited and honored. It’s incredible because there were so many beautiful girls in the show. Even though I’ll be abroad next year I’ll be back to defend my title senior year!” Speaking even more to the inclusivity of the show is the shows ability to not only grab undergraduate
participants but Fletcher and exchange students. Tabea Rosenkranz, an exchange student came to the LUX show to find a way to get involved on campus, “Since I haven’t seen the LUX Fashion Show in previous years, I cannot really say if it went exceptionally well. What I can say is, however, that performing people of the show went all in to make this show a great experience. The commitment of everyone involved made this show so intriguing to the audience. Also, I feel that the Tufts China Care Board did a great job in dividing the work and fields of expertise to the proper individuals, who would give their best to make this show happen with this level of professionalism. I feel awed and grateful to have been part of this show, because it is such an exceptional experience. Combining fashion with charity as the LUX Fashion Show does is a great way to entertain and make people aware of the needs of Orphans in China”
The show also benefited from the pre-frosh influx during April Open House. The girls explained, “A lot of pre-frosh came to the show after walking by the run through in Cohen earlier in the day. We literally stopped people and told them to come, we had set aside tickets specifically for pre-frosh and their parents.” One model Alec Schilling saw the show when she was a pre-frosh and began taking part in the show her freshman year, “I did it freshman and loved it. You’re in Cohen for hours but it’s a really energetic atmosphere to be a part of and I feel that this year went really well. I saw the show when it started in Dewick as a fledgling show and the amount it has grown in the last few years is amazing. I will definitely be doing the show again next year. I can’t speak highly enough of the board, they were really great.” Everyone associated with the show shared the same sentiment about the message behind the show. “Not only are you meeting new people and having fun but you’re supporting a great cause.”
The team acknowledged that there were definite technical difficulties, but the girls had nothing but praise for their MCs, Quentin Lott and James Lin, “ It was hectic backstage, but both Quentin and James handed pressure well and went on without mics,” says Jessica.
The main take away from our conversation would be the importance of the people who helped put the program together. Everyone talk about how at the end of the day they are a LUX family, and came together to raise money for young orphans and affect change. Both Jessica and Yen expressed, “It was a great end to our college careers and is something that will carry on with us even beyond Tufts.”
Jessica added, “We would really like to encourage people to come out next year and be a part of the show so that this great tradition continues. If you’re interested please contact us at Tccfashionshow2011@gmail.com; we’re really looking for people to come in to model and act as leadership on our various boards in the coming years.”
Photography Credit: Justin McCullam
** $4,638 was raised on Thursday night. Tufts China Care will be sponsoring Run who needs $4,500 for Spinal Bifida and Club Foot surgeries. To read more on Run check out: http://www.chinacare.org/help/proposals/689-mp **