If the name "Fashion Board" doesn't mean anything to you, that's okay — it’s an intentionally broad name for a diverse organization. The idea is that students interested in anything fashion can narrow it down themselves, with help and mentoring along the way.
“I just want to encourage people to get involved with what they love whether that’s fashion, or design, or graphic design, or photography,” Morgan Holton, president of Fashion Board, said. “There’s a place for it, and you can find a lot of those things in Fashion Board.”
After high school, Holton, a fourth-year visual communications student, wanted to get involved with anything fashion related. She quickly found a home in Fashion Board as a first-year student and worked her way up as lounge manager during fashion week to director of programming to the current president. She stressed she had no retail experience coming into the club and has only just recently worked at her first retail store. She loved going to thrift stores and putting together funky outfits and she wanted a group of people to share her love of clothing. If she can get involved with limited fashion knowledge, that’s all it takes.
“I really wanted to get involved with something I was passionate about in high school,” Holton said. “I was always the girl wearing unusual things, I guess, or not the norm.”
The organization aims to introduce students to the fashion industry, provide them with fashion knowledge and to ultimately get them internships and job opportunities within the realm of fashion.
Fashion Board hosts an annual fashion week in the spring that consists of community service, a Student Designer Showcase, and a finale show. The finale show recognizes local retailers such as Vestique and Bohemian, while the Student Designer Showcase features students’ designs, student internships and basically anything members are involved in worth boasting about.
Even though the main events are hosted in the spring, the fall is still packed with bi-weekly meetings preparing for fashion week. The fall is also spent teaching students anything that interests them. If a member comes in and says he or she is interested in learning how to sew, that member can be matched up with upperclassmen to mentor him or her in his or her interest of choice.
Bi-weekly meetings can range from anything from a Teen Vogue-sponsored trunk show to a lesson on DIY (do-it-yourself) T-shirts. The organization also takes field trips to local retail stores and exclusive trips to AmericasMart, the apparel market in Atlanta that connects consumers to international brands.
This year, Fashion Board hopes to be very hands on, give members exactly what they want and focus on how different elements of the fashion industry, such as event planning and fashion writing, can work together to mirror what the fashion industry is today.
“We’re always open to different ideas; if you’re a member, honestly we go off their feedback,” Kate Dunn, fourth-year advertising and communication student, said. Dunn serves as one of the directors of public relations. “We’ll ask them, ‘Would you guys want a resume night to figure out how to go into the professional world?' Some of the girls have never been to New York City before and they don’t know the different ways of the fashion world, so I think having a lot of different PowerPoint slides and talking to the girls about it is good.”
PowerPoint slides may not be a big part of the fashion world, but that's what Fashion Board is all about: making fashion accessible.