Making charity fundraising fashionable: Service in Style

Until last year, what this University seriously needed was a successful fashion show — that is, according to the newly recognized student group, Service in Style, a club devoted to charity fundraising through an annual fashion show.

When Cyrena Chih '05 arrived on campus last year, she couldn't believe that Princeton didn't hold a charity fashion show, as did her high school and as do many other universities. In fact, she was disappointed to find "no real charity fundraising club on campus" at all, and she was determined to change that.

"Students have so much to offer and it's really sad that we don't have charity and fundraising events on campus as other schools and high schools," Chih said.

So last year, along with a few other freshmen, Chih threw together a show that ended up being extremely well attended and helped raise more than $4000 for cancer.

While the show was a huge success by Princeton's standards, Chih was disappointed by the meager amount of money raised, as compared to more than $44,000 that a similar show held by her high school had raised.

Additionally, Chih found organizing the logistics of the show to be intensely complicated, especially without having any recognition as a club from the USG.

"I was disappointed and often discouraged to get through the bureaucratic elements of the school," she said. Chih also reported that she had heard that the administration had said that a charity fashion show "was not very Princeton-like."

This year, partially in order to avoid any more logistical problems in organizing future shows but also in response to the lack of any fundraising group on campus, Chih founded Service in Style. Due to the success of last year's show, gaining support from the USG and the administration this year was not a problem Chih said, and the club was unanimously approved.

The club was designed "with the image of future Cyrena Chih's in mind," according to one member of Service in Style, Daily Princetonian senior writer Michelle Leutzinger '05. In other words, the club aims to attract students who have energy, dedication and a cause, but no means of reaching their goal on their own or through any other group on campus. Because the club only gained USG approval quite recently, attracting members has been somewhat of a challenge because most students are already bound to commitments that they started in the fall and do not have time to pick up another.

The club did have an open house this past month though and has sent out emails with information about the club.

"Starting a fashion show was really hard and challenging, and now starting a club is as well, but hopefully it will be rewarding and challenging," Chih said.

The club's main goal for this year is to get a solid committee that will start working on plans for next semester. So far, the club has received a number of applications for leadership positions, and Camille Gray '06 and Mara Weinstein '05 are in charge of this year's fashion show, which is scheduled to be held in late April.

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Though the club may have overcome administrative obstacles, another kind of obstacle so far, according to Chih, has been "people stereotyping us, thinking our soul purpose is a fashion show." The fashion show is not the purpose of the club, but is rather a means of raising money for a charitable cause, Chih clarified. The club also plans to organize, eventually, other fundraising events, such as clothing drives, though an annual fashion show will continue to be its main event.

A primary objective of the club is cultural diversity. While many student groups on campus are very culturally specific, Service in Style aims to "gather a group together from all different classes and all different backgrounds," Leutzinger said.

Chih referred to this goal as "assimilation through doing good things."

Indeed, last year the Asian American Students Association, the Korean American Students Association, the Black Student Union and OWL, to name a few groups, supported the fashion show. The club intends for these groups, as well as others, to participate in future events as well.

Service in Style is bound to gain in popularity, as it is filling a void on a campus where fashion and helping others are popular student interests. As the only outlet for Princeton students who are interested in fundraising, it is sure to be a success.