Students strutted their stuff in a fashion show Thursday to help the TCU Guild raise money for seven scholarships.TCU Guild president Shirley Baird said of the 174 people who paid to attend, 159 people came to the fundraiser at the home of Jean and John Roach, a former chairman of the TCU Board of Trustees. The guild raised $4,350 from the fundraiser, Baird said.

The guild’s public relations chairwoman, Sylvia Dodson, said in the past, music, dance and theater students performed for the fundraiser, but the fashion show this year was a first. Dodson, a TCU alumna, said the TCU Guild is more than 50 years old with more than 100 paid members.

“I was looking for some way to be innovative and capture the audience,” said Elizabeth Doane, the guild’s vice president of programs. “I originally thought of doing the fashion show with Neiman Marcus, Dillard’s or Macy’s clothing being modeled, (but) they no longer do fashion shows outside their facilities.”

Guild member Rosemary Solomons, director of classical music at KTCU, found a solution through Ecuadorean fashion designer Eduard Lamprea, whom she met at a local fashion show.

“He’s a very generous sort of person,” she said.

He provided 18 outfits that were hand-embroidered in Equador, jewelry, hair stylists and makeup artists.

During the summer, Lamprea designed a special collection for the guild’s fashion show, Solomons said. Lamprea said he combined the embroidery and busyness of Latin American fashion with the clean and architectural American fashion. The outfits in this collection ranged from $700 to $2,000, Lamprea said.

Solomons also recruited three students from the College of Communication to model the clothing.

One model, Celeste Greene, said she was nervous about the show. But, once she started, “it just flew by.”

Greene, a senior radio-TV-film major, said she would definitely do it again.

A TCU student string quartet provided music for the event, Doane said.

Every year, the TCU Guild holds its fundraiser, English Tea, for scholarships in each department of the colleges of communication and fine arts, Doane said.

The guild awards about $5,000 each to students selected by the heads of the communication studies, radio-TV-film, journalism, art and art history, ballet and modern dance, music and theater departments, Powers said.

The scholarship money comes from members’ dues, the English Tea and separate donations, said Lois Powers, the guild’s invitation chairwoman.

The event is held at a different community member’s home each year, Doane said, and hosts do not have to be guild members or be affiliated with TCU. She said hosts and members can be anyone in the community “interested in helping young people succeed in college.”

Dodson said the departments had their own selection process. In the spring, each department chooses a winner and tells the TCU Guild, which then notifies the selected students.

Richard Allen, chair of the radio-TV-film department, said his department usually chooses a junior with a 3.5 or higher GPA and a good character, but the department especially wants someone it can be proud of.

“It’s a blessing to reward our best students and highlight those students we see as role models,” Allen said. “It’s great that (the guild) wants to support the two colleges.”

Doane said the guild will probably look into adding a scholarship for students in the design, merchandising and textiles department, which recently moved to the College of Fine Arts.