Serving spooky at the Fashion Club Halloween Party

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

By Liv Dunleavy

Asst. Arts & Features Editor

Fashion Club slayed their first event this semester with a Halloween Party on Oct. 29. The event was held in Hemenway Hall and featured music, candy, mood lighting, and introductory sewing crafts. Oh, and a full-fledged official photoshoot with box lights and a professional camera.

Emma-Claire Vanderslice, Fashion Club’s vice president, is a sophomore majoring in Fashion Merchandising. She said organising the event as the vice president “[is] really just being as much of a help as I can to our president. 

“[The] vice president is a very supportive role, and with a strong leader like Aili [Schiavoni], I am just trying to do my best to support her, her role, and do whatever I can to take things off her plate.”

Vanderslice’s advice to students who are interested in the Fashion Club is to “just dive in. It’s such a welcoming group of people” she said.

“Everyone is so excited to have new people. We want to get to know you and see you. Come swing by Hemenway Hall 218 on Wednesdays at 7,” she said.

Schiavoni, Fashion Club’s president, a senior fashion design major, said, “When we came into [Fashion Club], there was a bit of a snafu. Fashion Club actually did not have an eBoard until the beginning of October. So I officially became president on Oct. 8 and [with] EXP events, they need to be planned two weeks ahead of time. So, we hit the ground running because I really wanted to have a Halloween event of some kind,” she said.

Schiavoni said, “It was a steep learning curve, especially to get it off the ground as fast as we did, but honestly, my eBoard worked absolutely fabulous. And Emily [Crossin] did all the advertising for this - she runs the Instagram.

“Janae [Johnson] and Zara [Nazaire], who are freshmen this year, [were] immediately up to the task,” she said. 

Schiavoni said she needed the two to find Halloween decorations for the event while she handled other tasks. “They stepped up.”

“Emma-Claire is such a wonderful vice president. She just jumps in exactly wherever anybody is taking on a little bit too much for themselves. Wonderful teamwork,” she said.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t have to know anything about fashion,” Schiavoni said about joining the club.

“You don’t have to know anything about making clothes. You don’t even have to know a single designer or brand name. At Fashion Club, we like to have fun,” she said.

“Anybody who has an interest in this field, in any capacity, is going to find a home here. I genuinely believe that. And I want to change the mindset that Fashion Club is only for fashion students,” she said.

Nazaire, a freshman fashion merchandise major, and the treasurer of Fashion Club, said, “I want all of the freshmen not to be discouraged, because I know that when I was running for this position, I was very scared because everybody else and my candidates were all juniors and seniors.”

She added, “But I think, especially, that they should feel encouraged to run because when you start off as a freshman, people above you are going to teach you, so that way, you can take over the club eventually.

“You literally want to grasp all of the knowledge you can right now, and it’s a great resume builder,” she said.

Johnson, the secretary and a freshman in fashion merchandising, said she originally went to the Fashion Club elections to support Nazaire, and she knew they had the secretary position open, and wanted to join the club but had no intentions of joining the eBoard. 

“I was like, you know what? I just joined! I went up there, gave a little speech off the top of my head and I just did it,” she said.

“I think it's always good to just take that leap, you know?” she said.

“Because you never know what it could lead to, and I’m happy I have this opportunity of working with such amazing people on the eBoard and planning these amazing events and being behind all of this,” she said.