Over 100 little girls will be strutting their stuff down the runway to help raise money for a good cause as the All-American Girl Fashion Show hits Williston Park in style on April 18 and 19.
The All-American Girl Fashion Show is a fundraiser for St. Aidan’s School, held in conjunction with the famed doll manufacturer and retailer of the same name. Kristen Breglio of Mineola, a co-chairperson of the event, said that they approached the All-American Girl Corporation about hosting this year’s fashion show, which is slated to be one of their main fundraisers for the school’s PACE (Parents Acting for Catholic Education) program.
“We’re really excited…this is a fashion show we’re doing with the All-American Girl Corporation, which sells the popular All-American Girl doll,” she said. “We’re raising funds for our parent-school organization that will be used for student scholarships, offsetting the cost of tuition, running other events, and other uses throughout the year. We’re hopeful that this will really open up to be more of a community-wide event and not just within our school.
“The American Girl Fashion Show is a fun-filled event for girls and their family and friends and favorite dolls. It celebrates the experience of being a girl, whether yesterday or today, through a colorful presentation of historical and contemporary fashions,” Breglio added.
Breglio noted that recruiting prospective models wasn’t particularly hard, given the popularity of the All-American Girl line with young ladies. Once word-of-mouth was out about the fashion show, girls from as far away as Brooklyn were practically jumping at the opportunity to walk the runway in their favorite dolls’ outfits, she said.
“Our models are children between the ages of 5 and 10, and they model American Girl fashions that correlate with the dolls,” she said. “They walk the runway carrying the same doll whose outfit they’re wearing. All the girls were very eager to be a part of it…it’s certainly exciting for a child to be able to walk the runway with their favorite doll.”
Nora Grady of Williston Park, the other co-chairperson of the event, has two daughters participating; she said that the All-American Girl Corporation has been a huge help in planning, setting up and publicizing the fashion show.
“All-American Girl holds these events all throughout the country…as long as you are a non-profit that benefits children, anyone can host this,” she said. “All-American Girl has been so helpful…They really facilitate the whole thing for us. First off, they gave us a mailing list of 1,600 of their customers in the Long Island area, so we were able to mail out invitations to them…then they gave us a consultant who essentially runs the show, provides raffle prizes, suggestions on refreshments, costumes…they’re such a big help.”
Breglio said that they’re expecting over 600 people to attend the event over the course of the weekend at Monsignor Kirwin Hall.
Breglio’s daughter, 7-year-old Olivia, will be appearing in two of the three shows, gracing the runway on both Saturday and Sunday. And, as any red-blooded American girl would be, she’s brimming with excitement over the prospect of getting dolled up and showing off for the crowd.
“I’m really looking forward to being in the fashion show…I’m not nervous at all about getting up in front of all those people,” she said. “I own two of the All-American Girl dolls, and I can’t wait to dress up in the clothes…I’m going to be wearing two different outfits at the show. It’s going to be so much fun.”
The shows are Saturday, April 18 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Sunday, April 19 at 1 p.m. They will be held in Msgr. Kirwin Hall at the St. Aidan School at 510 Willis Ave. in Williston Park.
