By Taylor MacPherson

Wesmor students walk the catwalk in affordable dresses

Mar 21, 2017 | 5:00 PM

It was an afternoon of glitz and glamour at Wesmor Public High School’s annual grad fashion show, and all for a great cause.

Organizer Jennifer Brown said the fashion show, titled “Wesmor Walks the Walk” has been running for the past seven years in order to give students a chance to purchase low-priced or repurposed dresses for their graduation. Six models took to the catwalk for the show, which was hosted by paNOW’s own Teena Monteleone.

“There’s a high need for dresses for graduates,” Brown told paNOW. “We weren’t having students come to grad because they couldn’t afford a dress.”

According to Brown, the price for a store-bought graduation dress starts around $300 and can easily run more than $1,000, especially for plus-sized girls. The modelled dresses, donated by community members or purchased by the school, were made available for sale after the show with the repurposed dresses costing $25 and the newly-purchased dresses costing just $50.

In one case, Brown said, a single timeless dress was sold and donated back to the program three times with each owner dry-cleaning it and providing minor repairs.

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The program is not limited to just Wesmor students, Brown said, and anyone wishing to purchase one of the dresses can contact the school directly to arrange a fitting. Brown said organizers are looking to make options available for the young men graduating, too.

“We’re expanding into suits for men,” she said. “We recently looked at the cost of a suit for an average-sized male and it’s just enormous.”

Grade 12 model Kierrah Enquist said she took to the catwalk in six different dresses during the show, but the backstage staff made the quick changes easy.

“I had a lot of support. It was pretty easy slipping in and out,” Enquist said with a laugh. “It was an amazing experience and I feel very pampered right now.”

Enquist said the fashion show is a great cause, as every graduating girl deserves to feel like a princess at their grad.

“It’s really important for people who can’t afford it to also feel special on their special day,” Enquist said.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews