Thursday, October 1, 2026
Two Uniondale High School students debuted their original clothing designs at the school’s inaugural PTSA Knight of Fashion Show last Friday — a fundraiser that highlighted student creativity, confidence and community involvement.
Senior Kyla Simms and Junior Makayla Grier have long expressed themselves through fashion by altering their own clothing and showcasing their personal styles to friends and family. The runway show gave both students the chance to create original designs and present them publicly for the first time.
“This was my first time making pieces from scratch, from the bottom up,” Simms said. “I had an idea on what to do, but it was a learning process and it was a fun risk to take — a lot of trial and error.”
Simms, who plans to attend Parsons School of Design in the fall to study strategic design and management, said the experience pushed her outside her comfort zone while helping her grow creatively and technically as a designer.
For Grier, the event also became an opportunity to showcase original handmade work, including a denim skirt she created from several pairs of jeans. Like Simms, Grier previously focused mainly on altering existing clothing before creating original designs for the show.
“I like making a lot of statement pieces, drawing a lot of attention and exploring the creative side of fashion,” Grier said.
Her interest in fashion, she explained, began with drawing designs before she started sketching directly onto her jeans and altering clothing to create her own styles.
Simms said she originally wanted to model, but often came up with multiple outfit and design ideas at once and realized she wouldn’t be able to wear all of them herself. That inspired her to begin designing clothing for other people instead, which gave her the chance to bring more of her creative ideas to life.
About 100 people attended the showcase, where music filled the high school auditorium and audience members cheered as 19 student models walked the runway on the stage.
Grier’s sister, Amaya, a senior, served as the event’s M.C. and performed on trumpet. She plans to study music education at Hampton University.
The fashion show was organized by the school’s PTSA as a fundraiser to support future student awards presented during the annual senior awards ceremony on Wednesday, after the Herald went to press.
Ylana Grier, the PTSA’s vice president of fundraising and Amaya and Makayla’s mother, said the idea was raised in September, as a way to support, and create a platform for, young, creative students.
“I was actually inspired to do it because I wanted to increase our scholarship fund at the high school on behalf of the PTA,” Grier said. “I wanted to be able to increase the amount of money we could get for the award ceremony.”
One of the event’s goals was to help build confidence among the students who walked the runway. Organizers said that many students stepped outside their comfort zones in performing in front of a large crowd.
“It was night and day from the original audition to what we saw that night — it was definitely a confidence booster,” Grier said. “Those kids really went from zero to a thousand.”
The Grier family comes from a musical background, and the sisters perform across Long Island. Makayla plays saxophone and said she considers fashion similar to music.
“Fashion is like music: It’s one universal language. Everybody can understand it,” she said. “I feel like it’s such an amazing way to express yourself, and boosts people’s confidence.”
For her part, Simms said fashion also communicates without words, because it brings people together through art, where it “opens so many doors for self-expression.”
Alongside student designs, the show also featured student models wearing original pieces from nine designers’ and businesses’ collections, including Braveheart Edition, Ink and Iron Apparel, Rich Off Life Xperience, Precision Boxing of Hempstead, Who?, Destillavit, EB’s Tees (founded by Ebony Guerrier, the Herald’s 2025 Person of the Year), Cozy (founded by Carl Delva, a member of the high school’s class of 2007) and MVP Cosmetics.
Grier said they intentionally partnered with minority-owned businesses and community groups to broaden the event’s reach.
Nearly 30 students initially auditioned for the event before the final group of models was selected.
The evening concluded with a performance by hip-hop musician Yvng Legacy, who rapped original songs as models walked the runway.
Ylana Grier said the event represented a broader effort to connect students with creative opportunities and strengthen ties between the school and the local community.
“It wasn’t really with the [image] of PTA selling pizza and pretzels, but more of giving these kids an outlet,” she said. “And also boosting business. Our local community was boosting business by just giving them a platform and a stage — a space to be able to say, look, we’re here.
“It really pulled in our community, Grier added. “It pulled in our kids and created a huge network and a family.”
