Recruits take to the runway in Fashion Show Challenge

Recruits take to the runway in Fashion Show Challenge

Renfrewshire teenagers taking part in this year’s Recruit competition were challenged to stage a fashion show in a busy town centre shopping mall.

Five teams taking part in The Recruit were each given two days, and no budget, to organise the show in which they each had to choreograph, style and model fashions from different decades from the 1950s to the 1990s.

They then staged three ten minute fashion shows over the busy lunchtime period in the Piazza Shopping Centre in Paisley.

Primaljit Kaur, 16, from Renfrew, said: “It was very scary because we had people watching but it was a really good experience and good for getting your confidence up.”

Caitlin Dickey, 17, from Paisley, said: “It was a bit different, quite nervewracking but really good fun.”

Francesca Connelly, 17, Gryffe High, said: “It was a bit more interesting than some of the other challenges because it was about putting on an event. I’m interested in fashion and events management so this is really good experience for me.”

The teams were judged by an expert panel made up of choreographer Susanne Neil, hair stylist Claire McMahon and Louise McBride, Fashion Marketing lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Susanne said: “I showed them how to walk, got them to relax and be confident within themselves. I got them to bring their own personalities to it. They were all very mature and professional.”

Louise McBride said: “I was giving them an overview of what fashions were apparent in each decade and gave them ideas of where to look but all of them had great ideas themselves. I was very impressed. They had great enthusiasm, great teamwork and they just got into the show.”

In the end the winning team was Team Endurance for their showcase of fashion from the 1970s.

Claire said: “The input I had was on hairstyles from different decades and help and tuition on the morning of the show. They showed great enthusiasm, great teamwork. We picked Team Endurance as the winners though because of all the costume changes, they really pulled it out of the bag.”

The fashion show task was the latest in a series of challenges the 30 Recruits are facing over the course of the Apprentice-style competition this summer.

Maureen Hill, Piazza Shopping Centre Manager, said: “The Piazza was happy to provide our support to the Fashion Show Challenge. As well as being a great opportunity for those taking part in The Recruit to showcase their skills, the Mall’s fashion retailers and style-savvy shoppers made the Piazza the perfect place for the teams to show their take on fashion through the ages to a delighted audience.”

Towards the end of the programme the Recruits will face individual interviews before the overall winner is announced at a black tie finale in August.

See photos of what The Recruits have been up to on Renfrewshire Council’s Flickr page.