The Fashion Club and Students of Caribbean Ancestry teamed up to create a fashion show that raised money and awareness for Project Sunshine.

The entrance fee for the fashion show was $3, which was donated to Project Sunshine. This is a nonprofit organization that helps families who live with medical challenges.

The Urban Graffiti theme was meant to bring awareness to the fact that children in today’s society are living in harsh conditions.

The Fashion Show’s theme was used throughout the whole show and the clothing reflected this.

Throughout the fashion show student artists were featured. Two of the performers were Iona students, freshman Kyle Ramos and sophomore Abagail Cleare. Ramos sang “Thinking About You” by Frank Ocean and Cleare sang “I’m Not the Only One” by Sam Smith.

Out of seven designers, one of them was a sophomore named Xavier King. His clothing line is called, “Beyond Space.” His designs were the finale of the fashion show and were by far the most involved of all of the designers. He chose the music that played when his clothes were shown. His clothing line portrayed the Fashion Club’s theme well.

Models, make-up artists and hairstylists were prepared for the show backstage.

Sophomore Events Coordinator, Meghan Roosa, was in charge of training the models on the catwalk. This is her second year participating in the fashion show. Roosa has modeled on the side before and has worked for Mercedes Fashion Week. With all of this experience under her belt, helping other models came naturally to her.

“As Events Coordinator on the E-board this year, I had a good time working with the models,” Roosa said. “I liked helping them learn how to walk like a real runway model and for the second year I also got to walk for the show.”

There were countless photographers taking photos backstage and during the show. The Ionian’s assistant advertising manager, sophomore, Alexa Filipe, was among six photographers. She has been taking photos for about two years and photography has become a hobby to her.

“Shooting at this year’s fashion show was, not only fun, but also a great learning experience,” Filipe said. “Models walking down the runway can be like moving targets and sometimes they are hard to capture in a still photo.

Nonetheless, I was able to get beautiful shots that represent the overall theme of the show!”

The goal of the fashion show was successful and the message of Project Sunshine came across detailing how we, as Iona students, should be more aware of the chaos that families go through.

The Fashion Club and S.O.C.A. raised about $400 towards Project Sunshine.