Dressing appropriately in a professional setting is crucial for success, and Career and Professional Development (CAPD) understands its importance. Therefore on April 4, the organization hosted a debut Career Fashion Show. The show projected scenarios of different careers and the various ways one could dress up for different work related events such as interviews, Zoom calls, first day at work, office attire, important meetings etc… 

Recently, CAPD has started to develop new, creative events to teach important topics like curriculums, resumes, internships and now, career fashion. Therefore they decided to create this fashion show and paired up with the International Student Association to host this event. They made an open invitation for all of the St. Edward’s community to participate. A total of 10 international students participated as models of the runway and portrayed different styles for different occasions.

International student Melody Borg, who works at the CAPD office, talks about how this event’s main purpose was to teach students the different ways to dress for future occasions. Moreover, she said the goal was not only to teach how to dress but to be able to represent different cultures through fashion. 

Students have shown interest in the new events that the office of CAPD has started to offer such as this event. After interviewing a couple of people who went to the show, we were able to see different points of views of students regarding professional etiquette in the workplace. For example, student Jimena Vega iterates how students are interested in learning about professional etiquette. 

“I learned how to dress appropriately,” Vega said. “Having spent two of my high school years in the pandemic, we wouldn’t see a lot of business casual outfit examples. In my high school we need to wear uniforms at all times, so I never really had a chance to learn what I am supposed to wear for interviews or a job.”

On the other hand, we also had the perspective of a model of the show, as one of the many student participants was Student Government Association senator Luis Rios. On the runway, Rios showed us how we can dress for a Zoom call or for a normal at-home work by modeling a white button up shirt with a black blazer on top and some comfy pink pants. 

“I learned how to present yourself in a career and professional setting and how we can be versatile and still have fun but still be able to have a professional standpoint,” Rios said. 

While talking with Borg, she mentioned how important it is to dress appropriately for the sake of first impressions.

“This way you are set for success,” Borg said. 

As mentioned, many of the students that assisted on the runway came to get some guidance of how they can integrate professionalism and fashion to their corresponding workplace. At the end of the event, the office of CAPD also gave the opportunity for students to participate in a raffle. Another activity that they had to engage students in this event, was that they were able to get clothes from students across campus who donated good quality pieces of clothing appropriate for work. Just as this event, CAPD will be hosting more engaging events to get more students involved and working on their resumes, internships, work experience and fashion etiquette.