When you think of art, most people tend to think of grand easels with various paints. However, one type of art is often forgotten–fashion. Oak Park High School senior Zara Farooqui, president of Arizona State University Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising club, decided to create a space for students to express themselves through colors and clothes.
“We just do everything fashion-related, we do meetings about fashion design, fashion history and things that are more career-oriented if people want to go into the business side of fashion,” Farooqui said.
Since a young age, Farooqui has been obsessed with fashion and creating her own clothes through sewing, a skill taught by her grandmother.
“When I was really little my dream job was always to be a fashion designer, and even now I love to design my own clothes,” Farooqui said. “Sewing has always been a big part of my life and it’s my favorite hobby. My grandma taught me how to sew and we always sew together [even today].”
During the Fine Arts Assembly last year, the club held a student fashion show that showcased projects from OPHS students.
Photo by Leonardo Castaneda/The Talon
“It [the show] was a video that was played on the projector while the orchestra was playing their music,” Farooqui said. “We designed our own clothes and sewed them, and each of the club members modeled their own designs. We used the materials from fabric stores, and then everyone [made] whatever they want[ed].”
This year, Farooqui hopes to host a runway for OPHS students to showcase their hard work in real time.
“We’re either debating on doing a video for the fine arts assembly again, or if we want to do an actual runway,” Farooqui said. “We could put up posters, like casting calls, for people who want to model, so I think that could be fun, but that’s in the works.”
ASU FIDM Fashion club meets on the first Monday of every month in H-2, Kathy Bowman’s room.
“I think that everyone is creative in their own ways, and that anything in fashion is such a creative job,” Farooqui said. “You can express your creativity in so many different ways within the fashion industry. Everyone’s individual, unique style, it tells some story about them.”
