Behind the scenes of Benefit: an inside look into commissioners’ preparation

In early February, senior Nina Harris, one of six members of the Benefit Commission, walked through the doors of Lotus Boutique and onto the lime green floors for a First Date fitting event. Harris and the models, surrounded by steel racks filled with vibrant new styles and trending outfits, were ready for a full day of fittings.

As managers and store clerks suggested clothes for models based on height and skin tone, they also paired accessories to create a variety of First Date outfits. At the end of the fitting, as Harris browsed through the catalogue that showed the clothes and accessories that were going to be worn on the day of the show, she said she felt proud that “all the outfits worked well together” and was “even more excited for the show.”

Lotus Boutique is just one of the stores that “welcomed [the models]” and agreed to provide clothes for the Benefit Fashion Show, which took place on Feb. 27 in the Large Gym and featured 200 models and outfits.

“I think the show turned out amazing!” Harris said. “We all were very happy with [the way it ran], and it was a huge success.”

From November to January, the six senior commissioners — Harris, Prowse, Sabrina Clark, Darby Williams, Jace Welton and Nellie Jalalian — provided letters describing the purpose of the show to several stores in an effort to persuade them to sponsor and give clothing to the show.

According to Prowse, the girls were rejected from some corporate businesses because they had to go “so far up the totem pole,” a task that most chain stores were not willing or able to do.

Banana Republic, GAP and REI were the only corporate stores that donated clothes, but the girls received many outfits and accessories from local stores in downtown Los Gatos, such as Francesca’s and Kitsch Couture.

According to junior Ellicia Chiu, the Winter Wonderland theme head, the models, accompanied by their theme heads, set up fitting appointments with the stores.

“As a theme head, I got the opportunity to sort through outfits, which was really cool,” Chiu said. “I loved being able to see models flaunt their outfits.”

If the models really like their outfits, they are allowed to purchase them after the show. Activities director Rebeca Marshburn returned the remaining outfits the day after the show.

During first semester, the commissioners focused on getting stores and sponsors to ensure the show would be a success. But, starting in February, the commissioners also designed four floor plans, or certain walks that the models followed. The floor plans were created by the commissioners and were later distributed to theme heads, who in turn taught their models the various styles.

“Even though they had to walk in a certain pattern, we definitely gave the models complete creative rights to make their walks and poses their own,” Prowse said.

Each year, the commissioners meet and decide what themes have previously been successes, and based on the results of participation, they choose what themes to keep. For instance, Girls’ Night Out and Boho have been successes for a couple of years so the girls kept those themes. They also added a cultural theme to showcase traditional outfits from various ethnic groups.

In the few weeks leading up to the event, the commissioners constantly messaged each other through Facebook, figuring out last-minute details, such as the script, T-shirts, seating arrangements and the silent auction.

To plan for the silent auction, the commissioners went to local restaurants and asked them to donate gift cards that the girls could auction off on show day as part of gift baskets.

For Prowse, who has been involved with Benefit the past three years and was a Boho theme head during her junior year, the fashion show “brings together different grades and people in a fun and relaxed way that ultimately promotes a great cause.”

The money raised from the event will go to the Silicon Valley Children’s Fund, which helps foster young adults become self-sustaining by sending students to college.

“I think our cause this year was very valuable so the sense that we were doing something meaningful for others was really powerful in my eyes,” Prowse said.