In Project Runway-esque fashion, potential students will compete for a full scholarship to Aveda Institute Baton Rouge through a fashion show held on March 19 from 5-8 p.m.
The annual eco-chic fashion show and Earth Month fundraising initiative, Catwalk for Water, promotes clean water awareness and is a scholarship opportunity for aspiring cosmetologists.
Potential students, both with and without experience, were encouraged to post a three-minute video through Aveda Institute’s Facebook upload feature by March 11 explaining how they care for the world through recycling, volunteering or organizing clean-ups.
Of the submissions, the 20 participants with the most likes on their video will be chosen to participate in the show.
The potential students will choose their own models and will have four hours to bring recyclable materials to create an outfit for the model, style their hair and execute a makeup look using Aveda products. Judges will select one winner who will receive a full scholarship to the Aveda Institute of Baton Rouge.
Students who do not win the full scholarship will still receive a partial tuition award if they enroll in the Institute.
“Some of the outfits and looks will blow your mind on where their creativity can go,” Aveda Institute Assistant Director Michael DeMarco said.
A second competition and runway show with current students will take place after the first show. Students with experience in hair and makeup will create a video essay as well and compete for bragging rights and a prize basket.
“On a customer they can’t really express their creative and artistic side all the time, so this is their night to showcase what they can really do, and they go avant-garde and over the top,” said Brittani LeJeune, an educator coach at Aveda Institute Baton Rouge.
Tickets to attend are $10 in advance or $15 at the door and can be purchased at the Institute. Funds raised during this event will be donated to the Gulf Restoration Network and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, which are dedicated to preventing coastal erosion locally.
A portion of the money will also go overseas to build clean water cisterns for struggling communities, LeJeune said.
Since 1999, the Aveda Institute has raised more than $50 million to help support organizations directly affected by environmental change. More than $44 million has gone to projects that protect clean water at home and around the world since 2007.
“One thing we teach our students is without clean water, women in third world countries spend eight hours each day finding clean water and walking back home,” LeJeune said. “It completely disrupts their entire community and the way they live.”

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Osie Evans