Amatullah Janine Scott has been interested in fashion since she was a child. That interest let to the launch of the Richland Fashion Club. Scott said was inspired to start the club after researching similar clubs that originated at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).

One of the members of the Richland club is Je’Qwell Grimes, who has been a member for four months and is pursuing a science degree. Grimes decided to join the club because of his interest in fashion and his desire to participate as a way be more active and meet people.

Although Grimes is largely undecided about his future, he said the club provides a hands-on outlet for one of his current passions.

“I haven’t looked much into or decided what career that I want to go into after everything, but fashion is a huge interest of mine for right now,” Grimes said.

Nazik Yamout is another member of the group. She said that the club started slowly, but once the idea grew stronger, it took off to become what it is now.

As the organization grew, the members started fundraising activities. Selling bracelets is an activity used to raise money for events like the fashion show that occurred on April 6. During the show, members of the club and their guests modeled their upscaled creations. There were about 15 outfits that night, according to Yamout.

Grimes said his contribution to the show was a study in opposites. The first outfit consisted of black jeans, t-shirt and an embellished cropped jacket, which he said is “a lot more true to my vision.” Grimes said that he visited the second-hand closet located in the campus food pantry, where he founded the items to complete the outfit.

“I [wanted] for one of my outfits to be like the exact opposite of that, and that’s why I had like the bright purple blazer and the orange pants,” Grimes said.

The Fashion Club holds meetings every other Thursday, and there are only two meetings remaining this semester. For the last meeting, members of the club will be decorating their own graduation caps. Most of the members are graduating this semester including Scott, but she is already looking to recruit and train more members to take over her project.

For more information about the club, email: [email protected]