CEO fashion show held to support tsunami efforts


By Cassie Blombaum
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Last night the Eller Pre-Professional Student Association held a "CEO fashion show" to teach students how to dress properly for the workplace, featuring clothes from Macy's.

The show, which was created in part by business management sophomore Jenny Huynh, said the money raised from the $1 admission fee will be donated to victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Huynh said that she came up with the idea to benefit not only tsunami victims, but to entertain the community as well.

"I originally thought of the idea for just our club, but I thought well why not make it a school-wide or a community-wide event so everybody can benefit from it," Huynh said.

One of the highlights of the show was watching Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard, a retail and consumer sciences junior, strut her stuff down the catwalk.

Beard said she participated because her friend asked her to.

"My friend Ryan asked me to do it because he is involved in it, so I was in town so I thought I would help out," Beard said.

Beard also said although she is not interested in becoming a model, she does enjoy fashion.

"I am very interested in (fashion) and I actually do a lot of design work and stuff like that," Beard said. "I don't do catwalks, runway stuff, but I am on the more design end of things."

Beard, named the show's top female model, was also recently named ESPN's hottest female athlete.

Beard said that she doesn't care too much for the honor, but will take it.

"It's embarrassing," Beard said. "I mean, it's very flattering, but I don't pay attention to that and (it) obviously doesn't contribute to my day."

Nevertheless, Huynh said that the show was lucky to have her.

"Well, we have two E-board members ... who are on the swim team and they knew her, so we were lucky," Huynh said.

The show also featured a raffle, free food, and a hip-hop dance troupe.

Huynh said she believed the fashion show was a successful fundraiser overall.

"Hopefully, more people donated five, 10 more dollars," Huynh said. "We're hoping for at least $500 this evening."