West High School recently received an incredible donation of formal clothing that students can wear for school dances. Two seniors, DaMaria Burse-Wilborn and Elizabeth Lara-Andrix, had the idea to have a fashion show in front of the school, showing off the dresses and suits on West's stage. Read what Elizabeth Wheeler, a West student taking a journalism class taught by Mr. Gentry, had to say about the event.
West High School's First Prom Fashion Show!
It started with seniors Dede and Elizabeth having the idea of doing a prom fashion show; they were asking people if they would be interested in participating and they both got a lot of students willing to participate. Dede then got Mrs. Simms, Mrs. O and Ms. Frazier to help plan the whole thing out. Ms. Frazier stopped by at a dress boutique going out of business. She made a bold ask to get a discount on some of the dresses for the students, and all of a sudden, the owner offered to donate all of the beautiful dresses, roughly 350, if Ms. Frazier was able to arrange pick-up (big shout out to Mr. Flory). Then, when the students found out about the dresses, they wanted to create a way to show off the dresses to the student body by doing... a Fashion Show.
3-4 weeks before fashion show week, the dresses arrived and all the girls who were interested came into the dress room, little groups at a time to pick out the dress they wanted. If you were a freshman or sophomore you had to be on track, and you could only get one dress. While if you were a junior or senior, you could pick two, one for prom and one for the fashion show. The dress process took the whole 3 weeks leading up to the day before the fashion show. On February 13, 2025, during 5A and 5B lunches, we were in the auditorium rehearsing for the next day. It was a little messy, but we all knew we could do it. Once we got the order down and who went when, we had it all down. February 14, 2025, we had the prom fashion show during 8th period. The fashion show was for on-track students who received a wristband. Students who were not on track had to go to the cafeteria. Classes were shortened for the fashion show to have enough time to happen.
Right before the fashion show we had Britza (a huge shout out) take pictures for us. Some of us gave our phones to her so she could take pictures on them. She was in the room while we were getting ready to take pictures. Then when we all were done getting ready, we went backstage to get all lined up. Britza was taking pictures in the back and as well taking pictures of those who asked her. The show then began, Mrs. O was backstage telling us when to go and whose turn it was. We had music going on. When you were the one on stage, you had 5 seconds and 3 poses, so it was quick and didn’t take too long or too fast. After the fashion show everyone went back to the room and got undressed and put our clothes back on to get ready to leave for the long weekend.
Big shout outs: Mrs. O, Ms. Frazier, Mrs. Simms, Dede and Elizabeth Andrix Lara for planning out this amazing experience. If you see any of them around, tell them they did an amazing job.
