American International College’s annual 49^th P.R.I.D.E. Fashion Show provided a place where everyone on campus had a chance to participate. The process these college students went through to prepare for the show through the use of flyers, social media, and just their voices was outstanding.

Participants also did a run through in the Dining Commons to show people what they are in store for, wearing all black.

On April 13 in AIC’s Griswold Theatre the doors for the fashion show were closed. While waiting in the lobby, the audience was surprised by the models coming from the balcony stairs — the fashion show had started, as the models proceeded step by step down the stairs to open the doors. The models all wore red to draw all eyes on them.

The audience followed them in to walk to their seats. Then the opening scene had begun, making a strong statement that the show was only just beginning.

The second scene was all about flowers and had the perfect Mariah Carey song to match. You could tell the crowd was having fun watching the models strut their stuff.

Even Afrocentric designs made the show. After intermission, alumni Anna Mbengam had come out to introduce her self-made business clothing business Afrocentric. She explained the clothes were made in Nigeria and Ghana she also has her own website for online shopping.

Another crowd favorite was the Motor Sport scene, drawing obvious excitement from the crowd.

The show was amazing, it was evident time was well spent to plan a most memorable fashion show.

Many AIC students participated, including athletes – for those students, participation meant juggling school, work, team practice, games, homework, and fashion show practice.

Models agreed it was a great night.

“I enjoyed being apart of this 49th annual fashion show for PRIDE. This was my first time ever being apart of a fashion show. What meant the most to me was the history behind the fashion and how it all started,” said AIC model Aohili Latu.

Shamira Robles liked every part of it.

“It was an honor to participate in the P.R.I.D.E Fashion, but yet very stressful. I say it was an honor because students don’t actually know how much of a big deal this annual event is but it’s an AIC tradition. The people who were apart of the show definitely made it enjoyable,” said Robles.

AIC model Melissa Dessources agreed, weighing in on how much she enjoyed participating.

“I absolutely enjoyed being in the fashion show. Performing on stage was always fun and seem so relaxing to do,” said Dessources.

Model Elizabeth Harvey said, “I enjoyed being a part of the fashion show.”

The preparation for these models and staff was a lot of hard work and dedication. They put in many long hours to make everything on point with the walks, chorography, music, and set up.

“The hardest thing about preparing was definitely trying to hit all the corners on stage in heels without falling off,” said Latu.

Robles noted, “the hardest part of the show was definitely being a two-sport athlete, having night classes and still being able to attend fashion show practices. The Rugby girls that were apart of the show had a 2-hour practice just hours before the show and then had a tournament the day after the show. It was very difficult to juggle it all but overall the show turned out to be successful.”

Harvey said that “the hardest part was to stay serious during the fashion show.”

Dessources gave her perspective, saying that “the hardest thing on preparing for the fashion show was the tech week, late night practices with the regards of morning practices for rugby.”

Participants said they wouldn’t change much about the event.

“If I could do anything different I would’ve changed up my poses to pop out more” said Latu.

“I wouldn’t change anything I did on stage but I do wish my coach would have held practice earlier. I literally only had two hours to get ready for the show and I wasn’t satisfied with how I looked. I know two hours sounds like a long time but it’s not when you have to do your hair, make up, get dressed and also help others,” said Robles.

“I would have changed my poses because a lot of us had the same ones,” said Harvey.

“Something I would have done differently is I would prepare myself accordingly for tech week and complete more assignments before due dates,” said Dessources.

Really could not imagine how hard it must’ve been to juggle around their schedules to work being in the fashion.

“It was very hard to juggle my schedule, especially being a student athlete on campus. Most definitely during tech week we had fashion show practice 9 to 1 every day and on top of that our women’s rugby team needed to prepare for our home tournament,” said Latu.

Sometimes walking on stage can also be very nerve-wracking for some models who have to be confident in themselves. Another thing to add — throughout the show, no one really tripped over or even forgot to walk.

“Surprisingly on the day of the show I wasn’t nervous at all, I was more excited than anything,” said Latu.

“I wouldn’t say I was nervous on stage, I enjoy being on stage especially since I use to dance but I will say I got a little rush right before walking out before every scene,” said Robles.

“I wasn’t too nervous on stage because you can’t really see the crowd and we’ve practiced so much that I had nothing to worry about,” said Harvey.

“I was not nervous on stage; I was extremely comfortable on stage. Being on stage made me realized, I can be myself. I always loved being on stage and the fashion show made it easy for me,” said Dessources.

How about the model’s favorite aspects of the show?

“My favorite thing about fashion show was the new people that I met and was able to build up new friendships with,” said Latu.

“My favorite thing about the fashion show is being able to see it all come together. Seeing everyone put on their best faces and just enjoy themselves. Yes, it may have been very stressful behind the scenes but in the end you’re glad you stuck through it,” said Robles.

“My favorite thing about it was to dress up, have my hair and makeup done and to get out my comfort zone,” said Harvey.

“My favorite thing about the fashion show, would be show time. I couldn’t wait until to go out and show what I could do. Also, the people I had honor to experience this with, were too much at times but it was all worth it,” said Dessources.

The fashion show was a success and the AIC family can’t wait to see what they have in store next year for their 50^th annual show.