For the past four years, Normal West High School students have held a fashion show, thanks to Kyle Tidaback, a graduate student currently studying Family and Consumer Sciences at Illinois State University.
His phenomenal idea and creation of the fashion show student manual have opened new doors for students at West to showcase their creativity. This year, the students worked their hardest to make their designs come to life.
Normal West FACS Teacher Jackson Suddarth is the advisor for the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), a student organization to which the Fashion Show belongs.
Her job is to make sure the students get the materials that they need to create their designs.
As the Fashion Show was completely student-led, each student created their own designs.
“Everything about our fashion shows is completely student-led. I’m just here to facilitate the needs from an adult perspective and get things ordered that need to be,” Suddarth added.
“The students come up with the theme, the designs, and all of the models were students, so it is a completely student-run production, even down to the tech, lighting, and sound.
Alongside Suddarth, Senior and Head Director Emma O’Brien, and Co-Directors Abigail DeLoria and Ella Sullivan, took over the show.
According to O’Brien, the 2026 theme was Work of Art, inspired by literature and artwork. Preparation begins in August each year to make time for design and planning.
“The preparation for this year’s show started back in May of last year. I worked with Ms. Suddarth and the directors from last year to choose the theme “Work of Art.” We did lots of planning over the summer, and the work continued throughout the school year,” O’Brien shared.
O’Brien also shared the work of others, as well as her challenges while designing.
“Each student worked really hard on their designs, and some notable designs were Julia Knuth’s tie-themed collection and Ella Sullivan’s collection themed around different movies and books.
Most collections were featured around a certain painter or a book, but there were also collections themed around all different forms of art. I didn’t personally have a collection, but I did design a piece for the teacher collection that really tested my patience. I had to redo it three different times.” O’Brien added.
Julia Knuth, a junior, shared her collection in the Fashion Show.
“My collection was called ‘All Tied Up,’ so it was all ties and kind of how business casual can be in art form,” Knuth shared.
“We get to create these pieces, and then our models will get to wear them and perform them all the night of the show.”
The Fashion Show does not have awards or first-place winners. Instead, it focuses more on showcasing the artistic perspectives of students’ different designs. This ensures no competitions.
The Fashion Show was held at Normal West High School On Mar. 15 At 5 p.m.
As a teacher and Advisor, Suddarth is very proud of her students.
“I’m super proud of the students who put on the show. It’s a really large task. It may not sound like much, but to completely plan and institute a production with that many people, with varying degrees of prior knowledge and past experience, it’s a really big task to take on,” Suddarth expressed.
The 2027 Fashion Show planning will begin soon.
If you’re interested, contact Mrs. Suddarth for further questions, as there is always room for new people.
