Hemming and Drawing

A fashion show displaying the latest creations off the runways of Paris and Haifa, right here in Orange County?

Sure. But with an educational twist.

Students from fashion vocational schools and programs in France and Israel shipped off their hottest designs to star in a recent show for members of the Dana Niguel Chapter of the Women’s American Organization for Rehabilitation through Training.

The group is a voluntary network of vocational education and technological training. Each year the international Jewish organization supports the instruction of 250,000 students in 60 countries. The students are taught one of 135 fields, from auto repair and computer technology to robotics and fashion design.

The organization began in 1880 when a group of Russians asked Czar Alexander II to allow them to teach needy people handicrafts and farming. From there, the group established schools around the world.

At the Caspian Restaurant in Irvine, 112 guests took in a range of outfits, from a casual blue velour cardigan to a lacy white wedding gown.

Bobbi Cherry of Laguna Niguel, who served as fashion coordinator and show narrator, toasted the event.

“Mazel tov to all the young design students who have learned to let their imaginations run free,” she said, “while developing the discipline to harness their talents into a marketable skill.”