Runway of Dreams at Kent State University
Runway of Dreams is a non-profit organization that was founded on the basis that clothing is a basic human need. The Foundation empowers people with disabilities with confidence and self-expression through fashion and beauty inclusion.
I founded the Runway of Dreams club at Kent State University and served as President for two wonderful years. In the two and a half years that I spent with this club, we raised thousands of dollars for the Runway of Dreams Foundation, we raised awareness on campus, and established a new way of thinking in the fashion school.
Runway of Dreams at Kent State - First Runway Show
On April 28th 2022, our club held our first ever runway show at Kent State University. We partnered with the Kent State Annual Fashion Show, and had a sold out audience. Our eight models went down the runway between the BA students' designs and the BFA students' designs. At the end of the show, our models led the finale walk.
Our diverse models have different disabilities, and were dressed based on those disabilities. Zappos Adaptive worked closely with us to figure out the needs of our models and provided the full outfits. Paul Mitchell Cleveland voluntered their services to do makeup and hair for our models. Amanda Stayer, a student at Kent State University, did the photography for our show.
Runway of Dreams at Kent State
Second Annual Adaptive Fashion Show
We hosted our Second Annual Adaptive Fashion Show on April 5th 2023. This year, we hosted our very own show. We had 9 models with disabilities wearing adaptive clothing specific to their disabilities. We also had service dogs in training featured in our show and a performance from the Flashes Elite Dance Team. The show was funded my Undergraduate Student Government and the clothing was donated by Zappos and MAI We Care. We raised about $800 for the foundation for this event, and it was a blast!
