With prom right around the corner, Tiffany Replogle’s fashion class is carrying out the tradition of the prom closet. In the past, Kimberly Totten and the office secretaries were in charge of the program, but this year they all had too much on their hands to continue the tradition. They still wanted to keep it going and saw a chance to get students involved, so they reached out to Replogle in hopes that one of her classes would be interested in it.
This tradition started 7 or 8 years ago when the sponsors realized that there are plenty of people in the school district who might not be able to afford a dress or have the time to go out and buy one. It is an easy access dress closet open to anyone who is interested. The fashion class also decided to tie in the waste that one time dresses cause. A bunch of girls buy hefty prom dresses that they wear for one night and it adds up to a bunch of waste in the environment. They studied this topic and decided to use this as part of their advertisement.
The project for the students involved studying customer service, marketing and merchandising. The students picked out 60 dresses that they thought would be fitting for high school students and cataloged them. Calli Ghys and Kristi Gallagher worked together to create a commercial with models to show in classes during Jaytime.
“It was a funny experience and it’s something different that you don’t get to do every day,” said Gallagher.
Students Lauren Replogle, Skylar Heinzel and Allie Mccormick were impressed with the amount of dresses that were fashionable in the closet. Expecting them to be outdated and gross, they found the process surprisingly more fun than they originally thought. All dresses were donated by Marshfield students in the past that didn’t need their dresses anymore.
“It’s hard to find good vintage dresses that are still in good condition, but even if that isn’t your style there are some newer dresses that are still modern,” said Heinzel.
Totten was excited to see students getting involved with the program, seeing students helping students is a heart-warming experience. Seeing how much advertising the class is doing was also something that she was excited about. In the past, Totten admits that getting the word out was something that the program lacked. The commercials, posters and displays that the students created were all part of the student’s projects, but they had fun creating them. She also hopes to see more girls wearing dresses from the closest. There is a wide variety of options, shapes and sizes that anyone is welcome to choose from and some accessories and shoes are also an option if needed.
“Especially now with money being so tight for everyone, I think that it would just be a wonderful thing. A lot of them haven’t been worn for years, so it’s not like somebody’s going to have the same dress this year,” said Totten.
If interested in borrowing a dress, all students have to do is go up to room 109 to request an appointment to try some on. Currently, Replogle is working on a sign up sheet for students who are interested that will be given out during Jaytime. Pictures of all the dresses can be found on the drive linked in the MHS Prom Facebook group.
“Honestly, something that this project has got me thinking is why should we spend hundreds of dollars on a dress that we will probably only wear once,” said Ashylnn Langford-Wengard. “I think the closet is something everyone should at least consider looking at.”
