Seniors Jon Raz, Ali Emmons and Reid Peppard of the Diversity Task Force held the first annual fashion show on May 22 as a benefit for the battered women's shelter in San Jose. But, it wasn't the typical fashion show featuring the latest version of low-rise jeans or trendy tank tops. Instead, 40 models strutted down the runway on the high school's front lawn donning traditional garb, including men's robes and long dress shirts from India, Chinese dresses with wooden umbrellas and house slippers, kimonos matched with highwater jeans and platform shoes and African-inspired shirts. Females also sported body-fitting fringed dresses from Mexico, while the señors modeled ruffled tuxedo shirts.

"It's kind of like the East meets West in fashion," Ali says. "We're taking traditional clothing and mixing it with normal street wear. It ties in with the idea of fusion and appreciating different forms of beauty."

Ali admits she does not know what it's like to grow up as a minority, but she does understand the pressures teenagers feel to fit in.

"People are scared to be different," she says. "They feel they have to conform to the ideal type of beauty to be accepted, and that's sad because everybody is unique in their own way. They should be proud of their individuality."

Showing off her Indian heritage is what junior and model Anita Prasad says she loves doing, but that wasn't the case when she was younger. She says she used to refuse to wear her Indian uniform to Sunday school, and when she did have to, she would stay inside the car if her parents had to stop by the grocery store after school.

"I was embarrassed and scared that people would look at me funny," she says. "But now I wear it everywhere. I like showing off my Indian clothes. People think it's cool."

Anita didn't get to wear any of the seven garments she donated to the show, but she did wear a Japanese kimono and a fan in her hair.

For many, the fashion show was more than an opportunity to show off creative clothing ensembles; it was also a learning experience. In thinking of interesting clothing combinations, members researched how different cultures wear makeup and certain articles of clothing and how diversity influences pop culture.

Jon learned that women in southern India typically wear shawls on their shoulder, not to be confused with women in other portions of India and in some Middle Eastern countries who wear them on their heads.

The fashion show may have been entertaining for spectators, including those driving past the school, but Jon says there's a message he hopes people will hear.

"We're not just a bunch of white kids," he says. "We're a group of kids with a broad range of interests who share an appreciation for diversity."