Caribbean Student Association hosts first annual fashion show.
St. Joe’s Caribbean Student Association (CSA) put on their first annual fashion show in The Perch entitled “For The Culture” on April 20.
The show featured eight modeling scenes and one dance demonstration by members in the association.
The models in each scene walked on a paper “red carpet” to the stage where they posed and showed off exquisite dresses, suits, coats, and other apparel that displayed their different cultures.
“It was beautiful how it came together-stressful, but beautiful,” said the association’s president, Ckyam Saint-Cyr ’19, who said the association had to consider where to find participants, the price of renting clothes, and the expected turnout for the event.
Some of the themes the models walked to included “90s”, “Flawless” and “Boys to Men.” While each scene had its own individual style, the members of the association all came together in the final scene, which was called “We Are The World.”
“We Are The World” featured each model holding a flag that represented a country, such as Haiti, Vietnam, and Ghana, and then displaying how each country said “hello” and “goodbye.” Audience and CSA members alike all agreed this was their favorite part of the show because of the inclusive nature.
“It’s so easy to get drowned in a space where you don’t see a lot of people like you, so to come here and go to an event and see how many of us there are in one central space, it’s so empowering,” said Taicha Morin ’20, one of the models.
In between each scene there were two hosts, Tyler Jackson ’18 and James Jackson, a counselor in admissions, who kept the audience entertained but also educated them on different cultures.
At one point, they addressed the important distinction between cultural appropriation and appreciation, saying that the association wanted to provide a space where the different cultures on campus could be celebrated.
Moni Campbell ’19 and Inera Coleman ’19, who were members of the audience, both said it was nice to see everyone come together to share different cultures. They also hoped the St. Joe’s community could learn more about cultural appropriation and how to respect different cultures from watching the event.
Based on the positive feedback from the viewers of the event, CSA hopes to have more annual events like this one. Saint-Cyr said the association is looking to have the fashion show every spring semester, a gospel concert that includes worship in different languages, and a cultural food and appreciation event called Island T’ings.
While CSA members would have liked to see more attendees at the event, they all unanimously expressed their pride and delight in how the show had gone.
Terry Severe ’20 truly put the idea of connection into practice.
“My brother’s a designer, so this fashion stuff is his stuff, so I told him about it and I’m gonna send him a couple videos and hopefully see how he liked it,” Severe said.
Saint-Cyr said her overall goal for the night was to “get every single one of the participants a chance to express themselves through their clothes and their walks. Allowing each person to bring their own outfits, in my opinion, did exactly that.”
This event brought together the St. Joe’s community to celebrate diversity, but also to recognize our similarities.
“We all come from different backgrounds, but at the same time, we’re all still one race- the human race,” Severe said.
