By Jessica Noll, Special Writer
Forget the red carpet at the Oscars; style was on display right here this week.
The senior class at South Brunswick High School held its annual fashion show Feb. 24 to raise money for the upcoming Project Graduation event in June.
The evening was put together by parents in the Project Graduation Committee, and students in several grades volunteered their time for the event.
”A lot more people came (to the show) than I even expected,” said co-chairwoman Cheri Lane, “I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I hope that we raised a lot of money for Project Graduation.”
Project Graduation is a traditional event that takes place each year after the graduation ceremony in June and gives graduates a safe alternative to celebrate that milestone.
The school auditorium had a crowd of parents, relatives and students watching the show. Lights were low, white and gold paper flowers, gold stars and ribbons decorated the front of stage, and pop music blared.
Parent volunteer Jean DelPiano emceed the show.
”I was thrilled tonight; it was very exciting,” Ms. DelPiano said. “All the kids that volunteered did a great job on very little practice. They just practiced (for) one hour before the show. All the moms put in hours and hours of work, and everybody told me that it wasn’t boring; it was exciting. And that’s all we could hope for.”
Committee member Sharon Reed organized rehearsals and choreographed the event with music, according to Betty Yeung, co-chairwoman.
Each model walked, sashayed or strutted from to the front of the stage to a different song, and a description of the formal wear was presented by Ms. DelPiano.
Virginia DeMauro, owner of Bridal Center Boutique on Route 18 in East Brunswick, loaned the dresses to the group for the evening.
”Virginia was so accommodating, so sweet; she spent two hours with me so I could look at each dress and write down a description,” Ms. DelPiano said. “I hope every girl gets their prom dress from her because she was amazing.”
Ms. DeMauro said Ms. Yeung called her about getting involved with Project Runway, and she agreed.
Each model had a fitting prior to the event.
”This was more like the girls came in to do the fashion show to show off the dresses, not to come in to purchase them yet,” Ms. DeMauro said.
The idea was to get the new fashions out there and to get people interested in them, according to Ms. DeMauro.
Ms. DeMauro said her personal favorite was a dress covered top to bottom with all black and silver sequins.
”It’s absolutely stunning. And the girl wearing it is beautiful in it,” Ms DeMauro said. “ I like glitter so, to me, that’s phenomenal on her.”
Volunteers for the event also shared some of their fashion preferences.
Kayla Botsch, a senior, said she liked “the shoulder thing,” talking about one-shoulder gowns, and she said she liked them in blues and turquoise.
Senior Danielle Smith also said she liked the blue, one-shoulder style.
The show had a variety of colors and styles whether short, long, dramatic bold colors or light pastels. Some had prints of flowers; others sparkled along the neckline.
The tuxedos for the men came in classic styles.
ChazMaTazz of the Princeton MarketFair Mall loaned the organization all of the tuxes for the event.
When asked his opinion on the men’s style, senior volunteer Joe Christian said, “I kind of like the white one,” referring to an all-white tux.
In addition to loaning the clothing for the show, ChazMaTazz and the Bridal Center Boutique both pledged to donate $5 to Project Graduation for each rental or sale they get for the prom, according to Project Graduation organizer Patty Christian.
At different breaks in the show, Mrs. DelPiano read out raffle ticket numbers for prizes in the tricky tray raffle. Raffle prizes included a series of prom-related services donated by local businesses.
”It was very good; it was nice to see everybody all dressed up.” parent Donna Cavett said after the show. “The kids really had a lot of fun.”
Her daughter, Marissa, a junior, modeled one of the gowns.
”It took us a little over a month and a half to plan this event,” said Project Graduation treasurer Sheila Daley. “You had to get the businesses involved, and setting up, making sure we can use the stage area. We’re moving from one event to the next.”
According to Ms. Daley and Ms. Christian, the committee is planning a used book sale in March and a yard sale in May to help raise the $45,000 cost of Project Graduation.
”We sold about $1,000 worth of tickets, and we sold them at lunches,” said Ms. Christian. “Each model had to sell five tickets. But we did really good with sales.”
Mrs. Christian said the committee also raised $700 on raffle ticket sales at the event, and the committee had raised a total of $27,000 as of the day of the event.
”I oversee the whole Project Graduation,” Ms. Christian said. “So I’m trying to raise $45,000 with a group of parents that is on our committee to have a safe graduation night for our children.”
The senior class has 750 students, and all of them are invited to the event free of charge, Mrs. Christian said.

