Haus of Style, the University of Arizona’s new fashion club, encourages students to explore fashion media in a new way. According to its website, the club “aims to build their portfolio through creative and professional development by offering unique, one of a kind opportunities.”
Julia Gray, a member of the club since her sophomore year, is the current president of the club alongside Rachel Fong, who is the current vice president.
“You choose your niche, and we will provide the rest. If you are interested in anything related to fashion photography, journalism, blog writing, graphic design, influencer relations, social media management or event planning, then this is the club for you,” Gray said.
The organization was founded last spring by professor Elif Kavakci, who had reached out to former club President Kayla Linderman as well as Gray to become leaders in the club.
“Last semester, it was a really small club. There were only about 10 of us tops,” Gray said.
The club currently has around 35 members but plans to expand through social media outreach and word of mouth.
“We want people to join whenever they can. The more members, the better because that means we have a bigger network,” Fong said.
“We are using this club as an object that they are presenting, so they are basically marketing us and marketing themselves and their work,” Gray said. “We want more people to join so that they can help spread the word about the club and, in doing so, create more opportunities for us to give them and for them to give themselves. We are a hub for producing things and outreach.”
The fashion industry can be challenging to enter out of college. While the club’s main focus is fashion, its primary priority is professional development.
“It is a professional development club, […] less talking and more doing is what this club is. We are here for our club members, and we want them to have the best experience they can while, again, networking, finding out what their true passions are and honing skills that they will use in the professional world,” Gray said.
April Petersen, a freshman at the UA, is involved in several activities on campus but expressed her recent interest in fashion.
“I’m majoring in fashion, so I wanted to join a club that was related to that in order to gain more experience outside of just classes,” Petersen said.
Haus of Style is the UA’s second fashion club following TREND.
“Even though it may seem like we are two competitive clubs, we want to break the stigma and be able to work with TREND,” Gray said. “The question is: How can we do that? And ‘are those other clubs also going to be willing to do that?’ is the bigger question.”
Haus of Style held its first meeting of the fall semester on Sept. 6 at McClelland Park and plans to meet every Wednesday from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. at McClelland Park, room 210.
“The club fee will be $30 for the whole year. You get two free meetings, not including the September 6 meeting,” Gray said.
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