New Faces in Fashion By andrea smith | Photos by Phillip Hamer, courtesy of Revival Runway
A new progrAm At St. LouiS’ nonprofit revivAL SchooL of the ArtS provideS reSourceS And A network of LocAL expertS to inSpire cAreerS in the fAShion biz.
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hen a teenager declares he or she wants to be a fashion designer or model, such a lofty aspiration might be disregarded as a childish dream. But at St. Louis’ nonprofit Revival School of the Arts, such dreams – including those in music, dance, art and photography – are valued and workshopped into viable career paths. “At Revival School … we’re going to take you seriously and not just look at you like you’re a kid and you don’t know what you’re talking about,” says Aloha Mischeaux, program director of Revival Runway. The international fashion collaborative of designers, photographers and models officially launched this spring in response to an increased interest in fashion among Revival School students. For 10 years, the school has connected young refugees in the city with people and other resources that empower them to pursue a creative interest within a collaborative, cross-cultural community.
“Refugees who are coming here, they have gifts, abilities and talents that make the St. Louis community richer and make us better off,” says Michael Ramsey, executive director of Revival School. “The key ingredient is the cultural collaboration – that we’re depending on each other and recognizing that people from different cultures are coming with different strengths that we need to complement our weaknesses.” Revival Runway provides students with a nurturing space to express and hone their artistic interests, education on how to make a career out of those interests and a network of industry professionals willing to help students along the way. Claudia “Coco” Nkurunziza was raised in Burundi, a small country in central East Africa, and moved to the U.S. as a teenager in 2015. Within the next couple of years, she developed an interest in modeling and connected with Revival School and St. Louis-based designer Brandin Vaughn, who arranged her first gig – a photo shoot for the Brandin Vaughn Collection.
