This school year, students in Lexie Crusciel’s fashion design program at Indian River Charter High School were invited to participate in a unique extracurricular project. They were asked to create fashions aligned with the semester’s interdisciplinary thematic curriculum Romantic & Industrial Era (1800–1914). The only hitch? The fashions had to be designed out of wallpaper.
It was clearly an out-of-the-box assignment—something none of the students or their teacher had attempted before—but seven volunteers enthusiastically collaborated to create four distinct designs for the project they aptly named “Gilded Seasons: A Victorian Garden Party.” The wallpaper they ordered, courtesy of Oodles of Wallpaper in Vero Beach, features a mix of muted powder blues, dusty pinks, and grayish purples, also incorporating florals and geometric patterns that would have been popular in the late 1800s.
IRCHS students have shown increasing interest in the school’s fashion curriculum, which Crusciel developed when she joined the faculty in fall 2024. Last year, 50 students enrolled in the first of two class offerings: Fashion Essentials: Elements of Design & Style and Fashion Applications: Apparel Branding & Marketing. Many of those students were eager for more. So, this year, a third class, Design Services Core, was added to introduce students to hands-on fashion design. Now, 70 students are enrolled across three separate fashion classes, some with more than one section.
“I think the culture here fosters an interest in fashion design,” says Crusciel, who hails from Pennsylvania and earned degrees in fashion merchandising, textiles, and business administration. “We have a strong visual and performing arts program, and giving students another creative outlet has opened more doors for them. Our students are very artistic and creative, and now they can pour their hearts and souls into fashion design and fashion styling.”
Social media has also spurred more interest in fashion design and trends, she adds. “When I came here, I assumed that the students would be more attuned to digital media. However, I learned very quickly that they were eager to learn some hands-on sewing skills, which has been really fun.”…