Lilli’s got style

Junior fashion-show designer draws inspiration from the Pixies, from social media and from within

Fashion+designer+Lili+Reynolds+also+brings+her+creativity+and+fashion+into+designing+their+everyday+outfits+and+makeup.+

Meliah Arias

Fashion designer Lili Reynolds also brings her creativity and fashion into designing their everyday outfits and makeup.

Meliah Arias, staff reporter

No one can say McCallum isn’t a creatively driven community. When you look at the students here you see who really brings fashion, pride and imagination. That’s why the McCallum fashion show brings out the best of the best fashion minds.

On Sunday, March 6, Mac held its annual fashion show with more than 20 models and 10 designers. This year’s theme was expressing styles through music albums. 

When our models walked out on the stage, me and Sage were freaking out jumping up and down hugging each other it was so exciting.

— junior Lilli Reynolds

Junior Lilli Reynolds, one of the show’s 10 designers, paired up with junior Sage Edwards to create pieces inspired by an album of their choice. 

The two partners decided on choosing Surfer Rosa by The Pixies for their fashion pieces’ inspiration saying the album cover had a good color pallet and helped a lot with ideas.

“We choose Surfer Rosa because it’s a very influential album, and the cover was super cool and creative,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said they have always been a creative head and when they saw the opportunity to design clothes they couldn’t miss out on it. 

“It’s very satisfying to make something and be able to wear it and see other people wear what you’ve created,” Reynolds said. 

Reynolds and her partner created two amazing pieces for their models, with both models wearing one. The first piece was a long, black and silky ruffled skirt with a white bone corset, and the second piece was a long white coat with fur lining. 

“Inspiration [also] came from my own style and the way I dress,” Reynolds said. 

Further inspiration for the pieces came from social media.

OUT OF THEIR MIND: Junior Anaise Antinelli lifts their hair for a dramatic pose while modeling a look by juniors Lilli Reynolds and Sage Edwards, with “Where is my mind?” by the Pixies playing in the background. Antinelli enjoyed displaying the work of the designers. “It’s was so fun because I finally got to show the clothes my designers spent so much time on,” they said. Antinelli enjoyed collaborating with the designers on the outfit. “Working with [Reynolds and Edwards] was really inspiring for me,” Antinelli said. “I want to make clothes as well, and when we would put our ideas together, it made the whole outfit really come together, fitting the designers vision but mine as well.” For Antinelli, the final design was satisfying. “I thought the final look was really true to myself,” they said. “I’m really glad that I got the designers I did because I think our minds think alike.” Photo by Charlie Partheymuller. Caption by Lucy Marco.

 “I like to look at runway things, Instagram and the overall album cover helped with ideas,” Reynolds said.

Once inspired, the process of making the pieces came with a lot of procrastination and almost sleepless nights.

“I stayed up all night making the skirt,” they said. “It was a long process having to make time to do everything which was a struggle.” 

Everything comes with its ups and downs during its process and for Lili, the upside of this journey was “finishing the skirt, the bone corset and being able to wear it and the pieces I made.”

It’s very satisfying to make something and be able to wear it and see other people wear what you’ve created.

— Reynolds

All hard workers are rewarded in the end along with satisfaction and relief, working on the pieces for so long and putting a lot of work and time into them paid off for the designers.

“When our models walked out on the stage, me and Sage were freaking out jumping up and down hugging each other it was so exciting,” Reynolds said. 

Reflecting back on the fashion show Reynolds would have changed their timing process and struggled with procrastination but will know not to do the same next time.

“I would have started earlier and not procrastinate so much,” Reynolds said. “I should have started sooner, so I could have spent more time on the pieces.”

Although the pair went through a time-consuming process, Reynolds said they gained some experience while designing the pieces.

“I gained knowledge on how to create things for people and make things that aren’t for myself.”

Lilli ended by saying that they definitely will be in the fashion show next year and is really looking forward to it, 

“Yes I am definitely going to design next year,” Reynolds said. “I can’t wait for directors to drop the theme for the next show!”