With a velvet rope and a lengthy
line out front, and a thumping, pounding electro-pop beat from the DJ upstairs,
the Bijou Club in Boston’s theater district welcomed the annual charity fashion show of the Retail
and Luxury Goods Club of Harvard Business School (HBS) on the night of
November 14. A long runway stretched down the center of the dance floor, on
which about two dozen female and male models, all HBS students, sported outfits ranging from jeans and casual tops to evening gowns, from sportive to elegant
and sexy. The theme of this year’s show—which boasted 24 designers showing
clothes on the runway, and attracted 11 sponsors—was “Style on Your Own Terms.” The annual show receives mention in “The Harvard Fashionistas,” the cover article of Harvard Magazine’s forthcoming January-February 2013 issue, which explores the careers of several Harvard alumni working in the fashion industry.
The event, first held in 2008, benefits a different charity each year. This time, its proceeds (tickets were $30 each, and audience members
were nearly all HBS students) were earmarked for the Harris Center for Education and Advocacy
in Eating Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital. That seemed an
appropriate choice, given the prominence of discussions about anorexia and
bulimia in the fashion world, many of whose leaders have been taking steps to
counter such problems.
One model, Tom Humphrey, a second-year M.B.A. student, was a relative pro:
the Australian native had been a child model and did a little more modeling in
college to help meet expenses. All the
models, who arrived in late afternoon for the 10 p.m. start—allowing time for
hair and makeup work, plus finalizing the composition of each outfit—received a
couple of hours of coaching beforehand from an associate of a local modeling
agency. Tips for the runway, Humphrey reported, included: walk slowly, keep
elbows in, pause for two seconds at the end of the runway and shift weight from
one foot to the other, keep your facial expression “fairly blue steel.” He got
creative on his final trip down the runway, and danced his way back from the
far end.