A group of high school students from Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy and around the Denver metro area spent weeks learning new skills and tapping into their cultural background.
The goal was to create various images that speak to their past and present.
The road to the runway is never short or simple, and there’s much to learn.
“The first bit of feedback we get is ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never done this before, I don’t know how to sew.’ And being able to give them those first couple of stitches and letting them go and run with it probably has been one of the most exciting things I’ve seen,” Kiera Jackson, a student support liaison at Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy, said.
She said the school partnered with the Colorado Beautillion-Cotillion for the collaboration.
“We value and we celebrate our full culture here, as a majority Black school, being able to work with our students and their fellow peers and being able to incorporate bits and pieces of our history into their clothing,” Jackson said.
The prints of the past become a statement of the present, and on the runway it tells a new story.
“I’m half-Black and I love being connected to my culture, and it’s something I’m very passionate about,” said ninth grader Evelyn Tolle.
The pride and personality shines on the runway, as the students show off their Student Wearable Art Gear or SWAG.
“It was originally a full fur coat and I made it into a two piece, and this dress was a long one and I made it to have lace and everything and bedazzled my shoes,” Tolle said, describing one of her outfits.
Weeks of sewing and styling finally turned into strutting during Black History Month.
Organizers hope this project can inspire these students.
“So they see this career, this potential career is possible, so accessible for them, so helping them build up their confidence within themselves that they can create literally anything and it can be beautiful,” Jackson said.
This is the first year Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy hosted the event and organizers hope the show will return next year.
“One hundred percent, I want to make this tradition here at STEAM Academy,” Jackson said. “It’s been such fun.”