The lights, runway and music were ready. The models were anxiously waiting backstage. The volunteers were putting the finishing touches on the first ever Benefit-A-Bulls Fashion Show in the University Student Center.
Benefiting the local organization, CASA, the Resident Assistants, Residence Hall Association, Harborside Activities Board, Office of Multicultural Affairs and many other organizations worked together to create the first ever student-run fashion show on campus. Students that attended donated clothes to CASA, a domestic violence awareness agency. Local boutiques and shops donated all the clothes that were shown on the runway.
But who came up with this amazing idea? Jonathan Boyd and the students from the 5th floor USC RA did. Their initial idea and all of the planning began in January. According to Inman, one of the great minds behind the fashion show believes it was fantastic. “We are so thankful for all the models and volunteers, boutiques, hairstylists, UNRB, CASA, those who attended and the Housing staff. We’ve had so many administrators and students tell us it was the best event of the year. The Housing staff is so appreciative and happy it went well.”
When asked whether the show itself was perfect Inman stated that it wasn’t. A show of this magnitude that was not predicted in the first place needs more planning beforehand in order for it to continue being successful. Inman believes that “[We are] going to be taking less models in the future, we had so many more models than we needed – which is a fantastic problem to have, in my opinion. We had some minor issues with pulling things together last minute, but that should all be fixed by planning more in advanced. This was our first year doing this, and we planned it in a semester. There were going to be some hiccups, but everyone came together and we got it done and done well.”
The models strutting the runway were also a big component of the fashion show. They modeled clothes donated by local boutiques of Saint Petersburg. One of those models was one of our own, Natasha Sears. When asked what made her participate in this fashion show, Sears responded: “The biggest thing that pushed me to be in the fashion show is that I want to get more involved in school events. Being a part of Her Campus, I try to be as outgoing as possible to promote new members and also let the other organizations know what we’re about. I think giving back to those that are less fortunate is very important, especially for a university. USFSP is so involved in the community so I think doing events like this will highlight that for our campus. I think donating your old stuff to whatever cause is important. More people should do it instead of throwing away useful things.”
Can USFSP expect to see this fashion show next year? It sure can. Resident Hall association, other faculty members and organizations are assertive in their decisiveness to make the fashion show a recurring event. Not only to build tradition on campus, but also to benefit the community.