On May 12, fashionistas of NHS expand to the community

The NHS Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) Fashion Club, a group of students that work together to express themselves through fashion, is preparing for their biggest and best fashion show yet, and another fashion show means more hard work.
Junior Isaac Johnston and other members of the club have been busy trying to finalize all of the contributing parts. The members of the club are working towards one goal: leave an impact.
For the past few weeks, Johnston has been working on promoting the show. He spends a lot of his time designing as he made the past show’s tickets and the club’s shirts this year. This year, the show is being held in downtown Noblesville at the old courthouse, so it will be free.
“We won’t need any tickets, so I’ve been designing posters to put around town to advertise to the community of Noblesville,” Johnston said.
Breaking free of the walls of NHS was important to the members.
“Everyone really wanted to expand out of the school. Not only is it a great opportunity for them, but the parents of the members weren’t able to come to the last shows because they were during school hours,” said Kate Butz, NHS fashion class teacher and sponsor of the club.
The location isn’t the only thing that is changing. Because of this change, the club is making it a more family-friendly event. They were able to get vendors to come to the show. The focus and dynamic of the show is different, too, according to Butz. Instead of focusing on makeup and hair, everything revolves around an idea.
The theme of this year’s show is be “(you)nique.” The show is focused on self-confidence and loving yourself.
“The idea of it is to just express who you are and to be yourself, no matter what,” Butz says.
Another difference in this semester’s show is that it is more student-oriented. There are four parts to it: day wear, night wear, recycled and student brands. For the day and night wear, members are going to be using clothes that they already own and put outfits together using those. The recycled portion is full of old clothes that have been ripped up and sewn back together. And the student brand segment of the show is going to be full of models that are wearing students’ self made clothing brands.
“Preparing the show can be stressful at times, but we do a great job of working together to prepare an amazing show,” Johnston said.
Part of the reason the club works so well together is because the members are so dedicated. Butz said that there are about thirty kids who come to each meeting. One of them is Johnston.
“I’m trying to wheel him [and his brother] in there as much as I can because they’re both little fashionistas,” Butz said. “He’s the hardest critic on himself, but he’s also a hard worker.”
A fellow member, junior Abby Morehead has taken notice of Johnston’s efforts, too.
“He’s super cool and fashionable,” Morehead said. “If he doesn’t go into fashion when he’s older, I’ll be a little upset.”

Come see Johnston and the rest of fashion club’s vision become a reality at the old courthouse on May 12 from 12p.m.-2p.m.