The annual senior fashion show is cancelled this spring since not enough students signed up. This fall, the fashion show was cancelled and then reinstated when parents volunteered to help run the show; however, only 105 seniors signed up, with a minimum of 125 models necessary to break even. Even at the minimum number of 125, the event would not raise any money for the PTA, which is the purpose of the fashion show.
According to co-chair Taylor Perkins, 20-30% of seniors who sign up will not actually participate due to scheduling conflicts and no-shows. “If you account for those people that will later drop out of the show, we would only have about 80 models participating,” said Perkins. “So that’s not enough; it costs money to put on the show, and with fewer students, there are fewer family members and friends coming to see their seniors. And it just doesn’t make sense to get in touch with all 26 stores that donate clothes for a small number of models.”
The decision to eliminate parent sections from the fashion show may have contributed to lower participation. “That’s when a parent can be onstage with their senior, and model with them,” explained Perkins. But the parent segments bring their own complications — “we need to schedule extra rehearsals for the parents to learn their part, and we also have issues with parents leaving the rehearsals and shows when they aren’t supposed to leave.”
Perkins and co-chair Katie Parsons sent out an email notice on Monday explaining the cancellation and rationale. Perkins and Parsons did not receive much feedback from students; instead, they received the most emails from parents, surprised to hear of the cancellation and disappointed that their students would not be able to participate.
“I was so sad to hear it was cancelled,” said senior Quinn Freiermuth. “I’ve seen videos from past years and everyone looked so good in their outfits.”
“I’ve been going to the fashion show for years. I went for my friends’ siblings, for my siblings, and last year for my friends. And I feel like our grade, out of all grades, needs more bonding, and this would bring us together,” said senior Samantha Siegel.
“In the end, the senior classes are different every year,” said Perkins. “It just depends. We are not ruling out a fashion show for next year. I think we are going to do a pre-registration in the fall, to gauge how many students are interested and see if it’s worth contacting stores and getting students to officially sign up next spring.”
