By Radhika Viswanathan
As the crowd cheers and the curtains rise, junior Anna Zagubizhenko watches proudly as her clothing designs are displayed for the South community to see.
Even though she was able to design for Fashion Show, Zagubizhenko only recently became seriously interested in fashion. “I had always wanted to be a psychologist. I was always interested in clothing and brands, but I only started taking fashion seriously last year,” she said.
After realizing her passion for fashion, Zagubizhenko “made tank tops and other easy clothes” for herself. However, this year, she was given the opportunity to make dresses for one of the school’s biggest events: Fashion Show.
In order to pull off the show without hitches, Zagubizhenko needed to exert both determination and love for her work. During Hell Week (the week before the show), Zagubizhenko arrived to school at 7:00 a.m. and left at 10:00 p.m., barely taking a break to eat. “It was hard to maintain good grades in school and prepare for fashion show, but I would definitely do it again,” she said.
On the day of the show, Zagubizhenko’s stage presence was put to the test. “Two minutes before I had to go on stage, I started getting a nosebleed, and I didn’t know what to do! Everyone came to help me and was so caring. After it was over, I just went out to do the designer walk and felt so relieved. It was an amazing moment,” she said.
Zagubizhenko is not sure that she wants to become a designer because of the immense competition, but she will always look back on this experience as “her debut.”