provided by Mackenzie Miller
Seniors Mackenzie Miller and Simon Glim-Gessee were tasked with the second annual Normal West Fashion Show after founder, Kyle Tidabeck began the tradition just last year. In the above photo, the participants from the 2025 show, including Dr. Angie Codron, the principal at Normal West, pose at the conclusion of the event. Students, staff, and community members gathered in the auditorium to watch the student-fashion in action.
On March 15, West students strutted their stuff on stage at the third annual Normal West Fashion Show.
The executive director of the 2024 West fashion show, Kyle Tideback, was the reason the fashion show was created, so when Tideback graduated last spring, the title of director was up in the air.
That’s when two seniors decided to step in and take charge: Mackenzie Miller and Simon Glim-Jessee.
“It was more of a decision that we made last year, at least for me. I was wanting to [become director] when the old director was talking about it, and I just put my name out there,” Glim-Jessee explained.
“Kyle and I have talked about when he graduated that I would somehow take over because I have been involved since the first fashion show. It seemed right at the time, and we were just very excited that we’re able to work together,” Miller added.
While both Miller and Glim-Jessee had been involved with the fashion show before, they admitted that the workload this year was a lot more.
“When I first started, I was like ‘what could be the difference? This isn’t going to be that bad,’ but now I’m like ‘wow, that was a lot,’” Glim-Jessee stated.
“You have to open your eyes a bit more. You’re kind of taking on a teaching role, in a way. You are now the leader and people are looking up to you for advice on what to do,” Miller explained.
Despite the work-load, the directors note the positives of directing the fashion show.
“Every time I hear someone compliment the fashion show, even if it has nothing to do with me, I feel a sense of pride,” Glim-Jessee continued.
There were about 40 people involved with the show, and more than 140 people bought tickets to see the fashion show.
Like last year, the fashion show hosted vendors at the beginning of the show, including many local businesses and a student vendor.
Miller and Glim-Jessee decided to choose the theme ‘Little Talk’ for this year’s theme because they wanted to differentiate from the formal themes they tend to do.
With new executive directors comes new and different decisions for the show.
For example, they had Kyle Pingle, who specializes in theater performances, come in to help with the layout of the show.
“We originally had started in the very back of the stage, but we brought it up, because our stage is so big, the models look very small to the audience,” Miller explained.
They also had the same song playing for the collection, instead of one song for each single piece.
Since both Miller and Glim-Jessee are graduating, they are looking for new executive directors for next year’s fashion show.
Eventually, there will be a Google form out to anybody interested in getting involved in leading.
Once they pick out a few applicants who they see fit, they will meet with them and give them a run down on how to run things, along with suggestions for next year’s theme.
“We’re hoping to maybe include some more underclassmen that can run the show for a couple of years instead of like one or two,” Glim-Jessee stated.
Before the show, the show’s theme song, ‘Everybody Talks’ by Neon Trees, filled the auditorium.
“Before the curtains opened, Simon and I were right on stage behind the curtains and the show’s theme song, ‘Everybody Talks’ was playing. We just got to take a moment to ourselves and quickly reflect on the years work, and everything we put into it, and we were like ‘oh my gosh, it’s finally here,’” Miller explained.
Glim-Jessee and Miller both look forward to next year’s fashion show and what this year does with it.
“I’m just really proud of everything that we’ve done and I’m I’m really excited to see what the future holds for this show,” Miller stated.
“I’m just proud of all of them. There’s so much talent in this group, and they have such a great future with this club. I look forward to coming to the show next year,” Glim-Jessee explained.