Background: Rachel Barnes, coordinator of the Clueless Fashion Show at Cine (8/27), manager and “finder” of merchandise at Dynamite Clothing.
Me: “So I was told at Community that you were actually the one that started the idea of the fashion show. Is this the first year of it?”
Rachel: “Yeah, well, it’s probably not going to be a recurrent [sic] thing, necessarily. I am on the events committee at Cine. So for the last year and a half now– almost two years, I guess, I’ve been helping with different events. They get a fun movie in and I try and come up with awesome stuff to do with it… But my dream– what I’ve always wanted to do at Cine– was to get Clueless, the movie there for everyone to see and then have the fashion show to tie in with it. And some gift from the god[s] the last movie of the summer series this year is Clueless and I’m getting to do this!”
Me: “That’s great. So how long have you been wanting this?”
Rachel: “Well, probably from the first fashion show I ever did, which was like, 2007 maybe? Almost ten years ago. I had it in my head. I either wanted to do a photo shoot or a fashion show. It was my favorite film. It was probably the most influential film in my life, as far as fashion goes. So it was a no-brainer. And then to be able to tie it into a movie theater where they can actually play it– it was too perfect.”
Me: “What’s your role here at Dynamite?”
Rachel: “I am a manager and I sometimes help ‘find’ with the merchandise… and overall awesome employee. We all run the instagrams and social media.”
Me: “How do you come up with the looks for the fashion show?”
Rachel: “So I really wanted to include the community on this because the more people involved with Cine, the better. Cine is just such an awesome non-profit movie theater that Athens is so lucky to have. So I wanted more of the community to be involved, so in that sense, I decided to have multiple clothing stores or boutiques involved. Dynamite Clothing, Agora Vintage, Athens Atomic, Community, and Entourage are the five stores that we’re featuring. I’ve got five different local stylists in town that are just awesome fashionable people that are paired with the store and they are picking out the looks based on the characters’ outfits in the film. I’ve got models that look just like the characters, then we’re going to project the image of the character from the movie up on the wall while the models are walking down and there will be a panel of fashionistas, three local, fashionable ladies that grew up in a time when Clueless was an influential movie– they’re going to be talking about the comparisons of the outfits… I just wanted to do something a little more interactive. I’ve been doing fashion shows for so long now, I thought it’d be fun to have one where people are talking about what’s being worn as opposed to everyone just watching the models go down the runway.”