20| SENIORS
ELLA MARCH from the sketchbook to the runway
From running around Bloomingdale’s on Michigan Avenue with her grandparents as a child to interning at the Institute of Fashion as a member of the Couture Team, Miami Palmetto Senior High senior Ella March has always had a love for all things fashion and design. As a little girl growing up in Chicago, Illinois, March spent many summer days with her sister and grandmother shopping on the popular tourist street Michigan Avenue. Michigan Avenue, also known as Magnificent Mile, is a street home to many of the most well-known clothing stores and restaurants. One of her preferred stores was Bloomingdale’s, one she remembers getting lost in as she perused the rows upon rows of clothing. “[It] quickly became my favorite place.
I felt so at home in the building with all the clothing around me,” March said. When March moved to Miami the summer before eighth grade, her parents decided that she and her sister should participate in a summer camp while they worked during the day. Aware of their daughter’s love for clothing and fashion, her parents sent her to a summer camp at the Institute of Fashion in Coral Gables, a place where she has spent much of her time refining her craft. During her very first summer at the Institute of Fashion, she learned the ins and outs of creating clothing, from learning how to design to the proper techniques of cutting and sewing fabric. After the summer camp, March began taking year-round classes at The Institute of Fashion, working towards a runway show that occurs twice a year during the winter and summer. Through these themed runway shows, students model and showcase their pieces. For her first show, the theme was “London,” so she decided to create a look inspired by the Disney film, “Mary Poppins.” While taking classes at the Institute of Fashion, March received an invitation at the beginning of her freshman year to join the Couture Team. Her work with the Couture Team added on to what she learned in her classes, teaching her store management skills, how to work with clientele, how to design and create
couture pieces like ball gowns. “I learned more about how to manage a store,” March said. “I’ll be in fittings for brides and standing there holding pins or fabric for them to hold… I’ll see more of the behind the scenes for an actual business.” In addition to her time at the Institute of Fashion, March also spent a summer in Wynwood interning for Danny Santiago, the costume designer famous for his work styling the “Sex and the City” movie series and the shows “Burn Notice,” “Graceland” and “Ballers.” “I spent eight hours a day for my whole summer sitting in that warehouse, just basically curating every single item of clothing in there,” March said. “He had a bunch of old Givenchy dresses and stuff like that, and it was just super cool to see everything.” When not at the sewing machine or putting together a mood board, you can find her participating in a multitude of on-campus activities and clubs. March previously participated in Palmetto’s History Bowl team and served as a board member of her temple’s youth program. She also dove for the University of Miami’s club diving team and last year for Palmetto’s varsity diving team. Currently, she sits on her senior class cabinet and also serves as the secretary of the Health Information Project (HIP). This year, however, March decided to bring her love of fashion to school. For her senior year, March decided to take stagecraft with Palmetto’s drama instructor Robin Barson. She originally placed in the top-level stagecraft class and expected to make costumes for the theatre shows this year. However, due to COVID-19, all levels of stagecraft became part of a combined class and the students have had to find new ways to work both creatively and collaboratively.
