Many high school students dream of creating fashion – of breathing life into fabric and thread with their own unique senses of style, and perhaps even displaying those creations for others to admire. For most students, this dream is not much of a possibility within the realm of high school. With the upcoming fashion show, however, it has turned into a reality for McNeil’s fashion and costume design students.

The show will be on May 9 at 5 p.m. in the Little Theater (A117). Everyone is welcome to come see the amazing work the design students have done, and teacher Erin Shaw encourages other McNeil students to join fashion and costume design as well.

“If you love Project Runway, you’ll love this class,” Shaw said.

Fashion and costume design is a hands-on class where students learn to draw designs, make patterns and build costumes. Although an interesting and creative class, it has received relatively little attention. Shaw hopes to change this by holding this fashion show, however.

“We are trying to build the fashion and costume design departments to be one of the largest and most innovative in the state,” Shaw said.

This show will be the first one ever held, and those involved are anticipating this chance to show off the students’ hard work. Shaw even hopes to make this an annual event, holding a show as often as once a semester starting next year. It is student planned and organized, with junior Mary Musser in charge.

“It’s very exciting because after working hard all year, we finally have a chance for students to showcase their designs,” Musser said. “Many came into the class with little to no sewing skills, so it shows how far they’ve come.”

Since they have never held a fashion show before, students will be presenting any of the pieces they have been working on all year, and do not have a specific theme in mind. Instead, they will display a variety of different designs.

“Various students will be showing costumes and clothes they have made, some modern and others more avant-garde,” Musser said.