Fort Smith (Dec 08/03) - The world of fashion design is not just for Paris and New York, anymore. It has now found another home in Fort Smith.

Instructor Erin McNeil, right, and student Melanie Jewell share a light moment while checking out a sewing machine during the Fashion Design Club at PWK High School. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

A new Fashion Design Club has been introduced as an extracurricular activity at P.W. Kaeser High School.

The club -- sponsored by NWT/Nunavut Skills Canada -- is the first of its kind in the NWT.

"It's preparing students for a future career, giving them an alternative," says Erin McNeil, the instructor for the Fashion Design Club, which is for interested Grade 9-12 students.

The club, which held its first meeting last week and will run every Tuesday until April, will teach the basics of sewing machine operation, illustration techniques and design production. Five students have signed up.

McNeil explains the students will draw a body template. "They can create whatever body they like and design for that."

They will then actually make their designs.

McNeil says the students are excited about the club. "It's just such a unique program for them."

She is expecting originality from participants in the club. "They can make anything within their skill level."

That could include dresses, coats, shirts, pants or costumes.

Realistic goals

While the fashion high life may await sometime in the future, the students in the club have much more realistic goals.

"I want to have a good portfolio because I want to go to art school after I graduate," says Melanie Jewell, 16.

Jewell is not sure what she will create for her club project, although she says she may make a coat.

"I want to learn how to make my own bags and make my own clothes," says Robyn McLeod, also 16.

She is thinking of making a caribou hide shoulder bag as a club project.

McLeod is also looking forward to learning how to operate a sewing machine, explaining she did not have much success on the machine in the past. "I tried, but it didn't work out," she laughs.

Instructor McNeil studied fashion design at Kwantlen University College in B.C. from 1999-2001. During work hours at PWK, she is a special needs assistant.

"I've been sewing since I was eight," she says. "It started with Barbie clothes and I worked up from there."

McNeil says she always wanted to use her talent for fashion design. "It's sort of like a fulfillment of a dream."

She notes that sewing classes ended at PWK over a half-dozen years ago.

The creations of the Fashion Design Club will likely be displayed at the Skills Canada territorial competitions, set for April in Yellowknife.