What you wear is one of the first things people see when they look at you. It can help people see who you are, your interests, and your personality. This is what Chamblee’s fashion club offers: a space for people who are interested in fashion to come together, each with their own unique style, to showcase in one place.
The fashion club was first conceived when the founder, Mr. Wanddolff Bretous, noticed a need, having seen many students who were passionate about fashion, with a wide range of interesting and unique styles. Due to his own passion for fashion, he came up with the idea of the club.
“There was a need for students to express themselves because I’ve seen a lot of kids walking around with very fashionable clothes, and I thought we should bring these people together,” said Mr. Bretous. “I talked to my French III class about it, and one student took it upon herself to start the fashion club.”
The most important thing the fashion club does is hosting its own fashion shows, where much of the club’s time and planning goes towards.
“We talk about the fashion show. We’ll have the organization of the fashion show. We’ll bring in a model that teaches the students how to walk. Then we go over all their clothes to make sure they are up to standard,” said Mr. Bretous. “We also talk about the categories for the show.”
The club hosts one to two mixed-gender shows per year, in which club members participate. With these shows being large-scale productions, a lot goes into these shows from a model’s, designer’s, or crew’s perspective.
“We have everybody in a category, and we have somebody who announces the different categories. We put girls and boys on each side so they don’t see each other, but they know they are coming out to walk together,” said Mr. Bretous. “For example, Johnny and Maddie are going to walk out together. They go to different parts of the scene or of the stand, they walk together, and then they go back to their quadrant.”
With many categories being cultivated for the runway, any student’s personal style would fit into one category, and students would also have the possibility to branch out if interested.
“We have different categories; we have conservative, we have racial, and we have contemporary fashion. There are so many categories that you can join and participate in, no matter what your fashion style is,” said Mr. Bretous.
Many students in the club think people should join due to the ways the club encourages its members to be confident in their fashion choices. To many students, being able to surround themselves with people with a similar hobby gives them a support group.
“I got into fashion because in middle school I had really low self-esteem, and then all of a sudden I was like, boom, what if I started dressing the way I want it to look, and that just gave me so much confidence,” said Autumn Bouldin (‘27).
What students do in this club can give them an introduction into what fashion designers and models do for work, though not all of the students want a career in fashion.
“I don’t really plan on doing anything fashion-related. That’s something I’m not built for. I have a lot of respect for people who actually can model and design clothes; I just do it for fun,” said Bouldin.
Some other students are interested in fashion as a career path, but not limiting themselves to modeling or designing.
“I would like to go into a job with some kind of fashion aspect in the future for me doing something in a career that has a fashion aspect even if it not a direct fashion job I would really enjoy like I would like to work at a place where I can still express myself but I don’t need to be a designer or anything,” said Sean Ziegler (‘26).
Students could be into runway fashion or just wearing cool clothes; the club is described as very broad and not focused on one type of fashion or style, leading all club members to have a unique place in the club.
“Whether you’re interested in high fashion or not, the club can still help express your creativity as we allow students to make outfits for other students. If they want to showcase their brand, it also allows them to have a space for that,” said Lia Tran (‘27). “We’ll also have themes for our models like miscellaneous clothes, clothes from your closet, your own personal brands, and many more specific categories.”
Fashion to the many of the club members is all about fun and just enjoying themselves.
“It’s fun; you can have a relationship with other students who have the same hobby or the same aspiration,” said Mr. Bretous. “So that’s the reason I think you should join the fashion club. It’s inspiring and also will put you with people who are having fun and expressing themselves how they want.”
