An upcoming graduate from La Loche’s Dene High School showed his love for fashion with a special show last week. Grade 12 student Marken Laprise organized a fashion show as part of a special credit class. He’s interested in launching his own fashion line someday and he took the opportunity to showcase some designs.
The event occurred May 23 at the Dene High School gymnasium. “It went really great. That day we had a bunch of people sitting there waiting for the show to happen.
It just went so smoothly,” Laprise said. “It felt really great because I had events before and I had a great turnout too. It just makes me feel awesome to know people in my community support me in what I do.
” The fashion show was emceed by Jazz Gailey, while teachers like Brock Hevenor took care of sound and lighting. Laprise did the rest of the coordination like sourcing for models, creating the invitation, designing all the clothes and sewing all the fabric, as well as planning the logistics. Work on the fashion show began in October 2023 and Laprise estimates he spent more than 100 hours putting it all together.
“I made everything except for some clothing to style with the outfits I made,” he said. Laprise, who has been a self-made drag artiste since he was 13, explained he draws inspiration from vintage dolls, along with his own creative mindset. He has created and performed as Alexi Heights in various events and scenarios.
Through the fashion show, Laprise learned time and project ma.
