While trying their best to appear as professional models walking down The Red Carpet, NVOT seniors rocked the house at the 8th Annual Project Graduation Senior Fashion Show.

Students, staff, children, and parents alike attended the show in the auditorium on Thursday, March 30th, the theme being A Knight in the Park. Seniors Jonathan “Pancakes” Pankauski and Nathan “Nae-Nae” Oommen served as M.C.s on-stage.

The show itself started with two sections of models showing off unique yet casual lifestyle attire, then followed with another section wearing formal, prom-esque attire. In addition, singers (who also modeled) sang Saturday in the Park by Chicago before the show’s start and Seasons of Love from the musical, Rent.

The models had little input into what they were planning to wear until a few days before the event, where they were required to wear an outfit out of a limited set of clothes from various shops in Westwood and Ridgewood.

In the formal section of the show, senior Kevin Eifert accompanied senior Sage Doviak to the stage and individually finished off modeling by suavely flipping the back of his fishtail jacket to the audience, while wearing a top hat. He commented, “I really look like the monopoly man.”

Senior Brian Rooney modeled in the casual section of the show as he wore plain khaki shorts; a red, white, and blue buttoned down shirt; and a casual Lacoste navy jacket. Rooney stood back to back with senior Michela DiGesu on-stage in an iconic James Bond finger gun pose as both of them pretended to be pointing guns straight up.

On a scale from 1-10, Rooney’s excitement for the show was “at least a 9.5,” partly due to the fact that this wasn’t his “first rodeo” in terms of fashion shows. Rooney participated in the 8th grade fashion show at St. John’s Academy in Hillsdale, so when he “heard we were doing a senior fashion show and both my brothers were in it in the past, they said it was fun so I decided to go for it,” Rooney said. While individually modeling on stage, his excitement showed when he valiantly jumped up and landed in a grand fashion.

Senior Taylor Lansey, who mentioned that she too was excited for the show, stated, “I want to take advantage of all of the few remaining opportunities that we have left to have fun in high school while leaving a legacy.”

In terms of leaving a legacy, senior Evelyn Ziropoulos worked on the backdrop for the all-school musical, Tarzan. That same backdrop was also used in the fashion show, creating that similar ambiance. Ziropoulos said, “I ended up having a lot of fun and it felt so good to be, in a way, part of it, rather than just watching. Especially since it’s my last year, I’ve been doing my best to get involved in everything I can.”

Although most seniors don’t plan on becoming professional models walking down The Red Carpet, they will, however, be remembered as legends of the 8th Annual NVOT Fashion Show.