Students designers and models will be featured at fundraiser Saturday night
VANCOUVER — Kian Boonabi-Mirfathali once made a dress using sheet metal as the fabric.
Jesus Villalba was 8 years old when he discovered his clothes were more than just clothes.
Aimee Fonacier uses shoes as the canvas for her art.
All three Mountain View High School students are designers for Saturday night’s Fashion Under the Stars. The event, which will be presented at Cascade Middle School, is a fundraiser for Mountain View Senior Parent Booster club.
It will feature more than a dozen students performing as models. Some will be displaying fashions created by fellow students. Others will wear clothing that was donated by local businesses.
Boonabi-Mirfathali, Villalba, and Fonacier are three of several students who have designs that will be showcased at the event.
Boonabi-Mirfathali said he will have at least four pieces in the show, but maybe as many as 10. He creates and then decides what to show as the event nears.
Fashion Under the Stars
What: A fundraiser for Mountain View High School Senior Parent boosters, featuring student designers and students as models
Where: Cascade Middle School, 13900 NE 18th Street, Vancouver
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: Prices vary. Adult general admission is $10. Students, senior citizens, and military are $8. Ages 4-12 are $5. Children 3 and under are free.
VIP tickets: $20, which ensure first two rows as well as a goodie bag.
Extras: There will be raffles and a silent auction. Plus, autograph photos of the student models will be on sale.
He was 10 years old when he volunteered for a show. He saw the models, and he was mesmerized by the possibilities of designing clothes.
“It means I can change fabric into art,” he said.
At 13, he was part of a show, Paint the Runway Purple. This year, he helped with the Couve Couture in Vancouver
“You have to create different things,” he said, adding that he uses a “ton of paper” to draw his inspirations.
“If I think of an idea, I have to write it down so I don’t forget it,” he said.
This is no hobby. He wants to do this professionally. He hopes Saturday’s show will springboard him into more opportunities in the future.
Villalba, a senior, is part of Cascadia Tech’s Fashion Design program in Evergreen Public Schools. He has designed dresses that have been worn at charity events in Vancouver.
However, his involvement in Mountain View’s show was kind of by chance. He was handed a flyer inviting him to attend the event.
“That gave me hope to design (in it),” Villalba said. “I wanted to throw my name out there.”
Organizers said of course he could contribute as a designer. Villalba expects to have at least two full pieces, which includes bags, boots, dresses, formal wear, and street wear.
Villalba said every person can relate to clothing.
“We don’t appreciate what it takes to make a beautiful garment or a simple T-shirt,” he said. “I have a passion for fashion. This is what I want to do.”
He said he feels blessed to be part of the first fashion show at Mountain View.
Another senior will be showcasing shoes.
“I’m an art student. I also love fashion,” Fonacier said. “I try to dress the way I want to express myself. I wanted to incorporate my enthusiasm for art into things I could possibly wear. I saw a pair of shoes that were plain. I wanted to paint them.”
So she painted The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh on those shoes.
Since then, she has has found other great works of art to put on shoes. Many of those shoes will be featured Saturday night.
“It’s going to be something I’m going to remember,” she said. “I hope there are more fashion shows in the following years, so I can go and watch something we started at this school.”
Kimberly Turner, the president of the senior parent boosters, hopes this is just the beginning, as well.
“It was something I hadn’t seen done at the school before,” she said when she and her colleagues were floating the idea of a fashion show.
“This is a way to pull out kids from a different community at the school,” she said.
As a mother of an athlete at Mountain View, she said she “lives in the sports world.” This event, though, could bring people from all different passions.
In fact, there are more than a dozen students who have been rehearsing the last six weeks to be runway models. They are a diverse group.
“I joke that they are The Breakfast Club,” she said of the iconic 80s movie. “You’ve got one of everything.”
In the weeks of preparation, they have become closer, getting to know one another, while taking in professional instruction from adults who work in the fashion industry.
The students have been “learning how to walk like a model, how to carry themselves with confidence,” Turner said.
Saturday night at Cascade Middle School, they will all be in the spotlight.
