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Photos by Doug Jones/Staff Photographer
SHOW TIME
PORTLAND ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY High School will hold its annual fashion show at 7:30 p.m. April 16 in the auditorium at Deering High School.
THE EVENT WILL INCLUDE a dance performance, a multimedia presentation, refreshments, a silent auction and raffles.
TICKETS COST $5 in advance and $7 at the door. Students and senior citizens pay $5 and children under 12 get in free.
A PORTION of the proceeds will benefit the Cancer Community Center in South Portland.
FOR RESERVATIONS or more information, call 874-8165, ext. 6522.
PORTLAND — Michelle Smith dreams of being a fashion designer, maybe even having her own clothing line.
That's why the Scarborough High School junior is taking the fashion marketing course at Portland Arts and Technology High School.
Now, Smith and her classmates are learning directly from local design professionals who responded to President Obama's call for community volunteers.
The five volunteers are helping PATHS prepare for its annual fashion show April 16, which will feature the work of students in the school's fashion marketing, graphic arts, multimedia and dance programs.
It's an unusual gift of time and talent that's bringing fresh ideas and real-world experience into the classroom. Both the teaching staff and the students are grateful.
"I like to learn multiple ways of doing things from different people," Smith said. "I also like learning quick little shortcuts from people who have been doing this for a long time."
The scope of the designers' effort is remarkable, school officials said, even in Portland public schools, where more than 2,500 volunteers contributed 45,000 hours of service last year. Although the designers aren't counting the monetary value of their services, a rough estimate of the cost of their contribution at PATHS is $20,000 – an expense the district couldn't afford in tight budget times.
"It would be a luxury," said Tina Mikkelsen, the business and volunteer partnership developer at PATHS.
The design volunteers were organized by Lisa Morris, who lives in Cape Elizabeth and works as an interior designer at Maine Street Design in Gorham.
Morris, a wife and mother of three, said she was inspired by Obama's inaugural address to find a significant way to volunteer in the community. She searched the Web at volunteermaine.org and found that PATHS, which draws students from 23 high schools, was looking for volunteers to help with its fashion marketing program.
Morris, who majored in fashion marketing in college, figured she'd found her opportunity. She called the school and learned that the program needed designers of all stripes to act as career mentors, help produce the annual fashion show and oversee the renovation of the clothing boutique where students sell their fashions and practice marketing skills.
Morris reached out to several designer friends in the Portland area, and they jumped on board.
Three are from Portland: Laura Chambers, a fashion merchandiser; Alex Christie, an experienced seamstress and theater costume designer; and Brett Johnson, owner of Maine Street Design and a former Broadway set designer. The fifth volunteer is Andi Sewell, a fashion designer who lives in Freeport.
Morris and Chambers are working on the boutique project. Christie, Johnson and Sewell are working on the fashion show.
The show will feature clothing that students are sewing themselves, sometimes from sketches and patterns of their own design. They're making the clothes from high-end silks and satins, thrift-store finds and unusual materials such as newspapers and candy.
For eight weeks leading up to the show, Sewell is spending several hours each Monday in the classroom, helping students design and sew their fashions.
Christie is spending each Friday from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Her employer, Aetna Insurance Inc., where she works as a computer software designer, is paying for her time as part of its community service incentive.
When Morris called Christie to volunteer, she didn't think twice. She grew up in a family of seamstresses, including her mother, who made drapes and slipcovers, and her aunt, a cloth and clothing designer in New York City. Christie made costumes for theater productions in high school and college and had designed costumes for the Portland Players as well.
"It sounded like fun, and it has been," Christie said. "I don't have children, so it's nice to come in and...
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