Published: April 26, 2008 08:21 pm            

Spring fashion show in Clarksville offers fun and fellowship

Every spring, for the past 26 years, Billie Sue Smith gathers together with her church, community and the candidates for upcoming May primaries, in a lively forum at the Holiday Inn Lakeview.

Bethel A.M.E. Church in Jeffersonville has been putting on a fashion show annually since 1982, benefiting children at the church with scholarships and putting money toward church building renovations and rehab.

Models strut down a runway in the latest fashions, in “plus sizes and skinny sizes,” Smith said. The male models, though, are always the biggest hit among the ladies in the crowd.

“The people just go crazy (for them),” Smith said.

Josephine Mason Skilles was the brainchild behind the show’s start almost three decades ago. It gives the community a chance to reconnect after a long, cold winter, and they can speak with the candidates in a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere.

“A lot of times at candidate forums, people don’t get to personally meet the candidates,” Smith said. “And even the politicians that aren’t campaigning come to the show.”

More than 200 people attended the show Saturday, and not only got a chance to see fashions from the area, but were treated to a fried chicken dinner as well.

The show was directed by William Parris, with Uniqueness Unlimited Modeling Production in Lexington, Ky. Parris has been directing the show since its inception, after Smith and Skilles saw a fraternity fashion show he produced.

Designer clothes and everyday wear were on the catwalk Saturday, with models from Parris’ company showing off the styles for the crowd. Smith introduced the candidates during an intermission period, and Rev. Sheiler Stokes gave the benediction at the end of the show.

The show goes a long way toward helping students at Bethel, providing scholarship money often in the amount they need, and giving them each a Bible, Smith said, but “it’s not as much about fundraising as fellowship.”

        

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