ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — You never know what you might see when you visit The Dali Museum, including a pop-up fashion show where every designer and model is a Tampa Bay High School student.
After months of hard work, 14 student designers and a couple of their friends posing as models took to the steps, the galleries, and even the gift shop in a fashion show that Salvador himself would be proud of.
“It's really intimidating, but once you get in your zone, you kind of just keep going with it. It’s really cool to see people actually enjoying it and inspired by it,” said student Elsa Kusek.
It’s all part of the Fashion Design at The Dali program. This year, aspiring student designers from 14 schools across three counties participated.
“It makes me feel excited and happy, like I’m part of the show,” said Angelica Genetiano.
These designers had to be resourceful. The majority of their fashions were made on a $50 budget using recycled materials.
“This is actually a curtain I got from Goodwill. It was white, and then I dyed it blue,” said student Lucy Haura.
“She’s taken over half our house or more,” said mother Julie Haura. “But it's all her vision, and she’s come up with it all by herself. She taught herself how to sew.”
The designs were all inspired by works of Dali's art found at the museum.
“So I did my design based on the Lobster Telephone,” said student Elle Orchard. “I simply just dug deep into the symbolism of his work, not just looking at it but researching the meaning behind it.”
Many of these students have aspirations to pursue a career in the fashion design industry and say this program is a huge step in that direction.
“My high school doesn’t have any fashion design opportunities, and it has always been a passion of mine, and I do hope to go to college and pursue my career in fashion design, fashion merchandising,” said student Texys Mahaffey.
“You can also meet a lot of people from the fashion industry itself, text tile industry, we have field trips and stuff,” said Genetiano.
Other students say it’s just nice to know that their creativity is appreciated, not just by friends and family but by an audience of Dali fans.
“It's super cool because I can hear people talking, and it was like such a confidence boost because they weren’t directly talking to me, but they were talking about me, and they were saying, ‘Oh, she looks so good,”’ said Kate Evans.
The students now prepare for The Dali Fashion Design Runway & Awards Show at Gibbs High School on Feb. 24. It’s free to the public.
For more information on the show and registering to attend, go here.
