Interdisciplinary education has long been a staple of the Poughkeepsie Day School experience. Constantly demonstrating the intersection of each academic subject develops the important ability in students to consider and synthesize multiple perspectives when solving problems and answering difficult questions, both in school and beyond. The Grades 4, 5, and 6 fashion show at the end of May saw the combination of work from social studies, music, art, and Spanish classes, and the results were nothing short of amazing.

As early as March, Grades 4-6 had begun to study the topic of fashion in multiple classes with the ultimate plan of putting on their own fashion show. In their Intensive Study course with Shira, students started by learning a general history of fashion and coming to understand how it can reflect social and political changes over time. Then, each student was given the choice of any appropriate style of fashion or specific garment of clothing to create a research presentation on. Through this extensive research, the 4-5-6 learned how to effectively scrutinize and verify their sources and organize information in a way that could be easily shared. Students also learned to communicate effectively with an audience using eye contact, body language, and vocal projection.

In art class with teacher Michelle Tommasi, the 4-5-6 designed their own outfits according to the style or garment that they chose to research in Intensive Study. To better understand fashion design, students learned about textiles in relation to fashion and fabric choices and worked on designs based off of repetitive print making utilizing printing plates. The class also collectively learned about and created “mood boards” as a way to see how designers use inspiration images collected in one place to create their fashions. To design their outfits, Grades 4-6 studied fashion sketching and how the proportions differ from normal figure drawing. Their sketches include explanations and justifications based on their research. Additionally, one component of each outfit was required to be created by hand. 

 

In music class with teacher Ken McGloin, students learned to play and sing “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley, and even recorded their own music video for the song to be shown before their presentations at the fashion show. The version of “Blue Suede Shoes” featured in the video was an original recording of the song by 4-5-6 class. Students also watched videos of designer shows to learn how to walk with the confidence of a model, and they chose their own music that was fitting for their style of fashion to walk to during the PDS show.

On the night of the fashion show, Grades, 4, 5, and 6 strolled into school wearing extremely impressive outfits based on their design sketches in art class. All guests at the show were also encouraged to dress to the nines in the best looks they could put together. Students walked a red carpet in the Gilkeson Lobby and posed for pictures in front of their DIY custom step and repeat banner. Of course, they were all keen to pose and show off the self-designed outfits they were wearing.

 

 

After all 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students had gotten a picture in front of the banner, everyone was summoned into the James Earl Jones Theater for the official start of the show. First, the 4-5-6 homeroom, STEM, and Intensive Study teacher, Shira Teich, went up on stage to deliver opening remarks and welcome everybody to the event. She described how hard her students worked, and what they did in each to class to bring the project to fruition. After Shira’s speech, she directed students up to the stage stage to deliver their research presentations one-by-one, demonstrating excellent public speaking skills and comprehension of material. They explained the history, typical garments, and historical and social contexts of the style of clothing they researched, and presented their mood boards and outfit designs from art class. Students also introduced their presentations with a Spanish description of their style of fashion they had written in Spanish class with teacher Christian Enrique Sauer.

 

After their informational presentations, lights came up on the stage, and Grades 4-6 got in position to walk the runway and let the crowd behold the awesome outfits they had created. Students walked one at a time, in sync with self-picked music that fit each of their styles of clothing. The crowd roared as each student confidently strode across the stage.

 

The event was an unqualified success, and a real pleasure for both the students and extremely enthusiastic crowd that got to witness the spectacular culmination of months of hard work. Not only did Grades 4, 5, and 6 learn so much about fashion, society, and culture, but they also sharpened their skills in research, public speaking, stage presence, printmaking, textiles, written and spoken Spanish, recording music, and more. Excellent job, everybody! Special thanks to Ken, Michelle, Christian, and especially Shira for putting together this incredible project.