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VALHALLA, N.Y. The flashing of cameras along the runway as spectators cheered and clapped Thursday made the young student designers of Southern Westchester BOCES feel like the Valhalla campus had turned into something out of New York Fashion Week.
Students in teacher Carmen Galianos class designed and fully constructed clothing from countries and cultures across the globe for the fashion show. In total, 18 countries were represented, including Egypt, Greece, Japan and Brazil. Galiano said she wanted her students to conduct a fashion show that was similar to the real world of fashion design and the global theme was a first of its kind for the annual show.
I wanted a theme thats similar to whats really happening with professional designers and clothing lines, Galiano said. And I think that a lot of designers are going with the global culture theme in their clothing.
The clothing projects began in January, when Galiano said the students were required to pick a country of their choice and research the type of clothing worn by the population. The students then created their own design based off this inspiration and constructed the piece to be modeled on the runway using various fabrics. Students could either model their own work or have a classmate walk the runway in their design.
Natalie Mirante of Eastchester chose to design clothing inspired from Morocco. Mirante said she enjoyed the simplistic designs of the clothing.
I wanted to pick a country where their clothing had a lot of neutral, earth-tone colors, Mirante said. I think the simpler the design is the more beautiful you look.
Juan Delgado of Tarrytown chose to design clothing inspired from Papua New Guinea for almost the exact opposite reasons as his classmate Mirante.
I went with a peasant-type look for my design because I really like the bright colors and the metallic designs in the clothing, Delgado said.
Both Delgado and Mirante also modeled their clothing on the runway Thursday. Both said that showing off their hard work to their classmates and teachers was the best part of the project.
Walking in the design and looking good is the best part about this, Mirante said.
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