from “le détroit” · the strait
The 12th annual SHINE Fashion Show turned the South Rotunda of the Somerset Collection in Troy into a runway for kids on August 30, raising money for the Variety 4-H Horseback Riding Program and FAR therapeutic scholarships.
On Sunday, August 30, the South Rotunda of the Somerset Collection in Troy traded its usual foot traffic for a runway, and the models were kids.
The event was the 12th annual SHINE Fashion Show, held by Variety the Children's Charity of Detroit. It ran from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Children from Variety took the spotlight in front of a mall crowd, and shoppers slowed to watch a rotunda turn into a fashion show.
They did not walk alone. Friends from FAR Therapeutic Arts & Recreation joined them on the runway, and the whole cast modeled the latest back-to-school fashions sourced from Somerset Collection retailers. Staged as the school year approached, the afternoon doubled as a practical preview of the season's looks.
The show was first reported by dBusiness, and photographer Patrick Gloria was on hand to document the afternoon.
There is something disarming about a fashion show whose real stars are the kids on the runway. The applause in a mall rotunda is genuine, and so is what it helps pay for.
The clothes are the fun part, and the purpose runs deeper. Proceeds from SHINE benefit the Variety 4-H Horseback Riding Program and scholarships for FAR's therapeutic programming. One program puts kids in the saddle; the other helps cover creative and recreational therapy for children who need it.
Horseback riding and therapeutic arts make an unusual pair, and both give kids something structured and joyful to look forward to. That is the through line of a night like this: a runway that ends in something lasting.
Twelve years in, the two organizations have built the night into a late-summer fixture. Variety the Children's Charity of Detroit organized this year's show and handled tickets through its own event listing ahead of August 30.
For a shopper who wandered into the South Rotunda that Sunday, it read as a charming end-of-summer scene. For the kids who walked it, the runway was a chance to be seen and celebrated, with every ticket feeding programs built around them.
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