In French, a Menagerie is defined as being a strange and diverse collection and The Fashion Menageries on campus are looking for these missing pieces to add to their spring collection this year.

Fashion Menageries, an organization specific to fashion merchandising and apparel majors, will be holding their first general body meeting this Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 7 pm in Russell union 2071.

The main project for the Menageries is their annual show case. The organization displays member’s work from the fashion department with a fashion show and through individual showcase booths.

Some of the pieces that are commonly showcased would be different types of dresses and jeans accompanied by their sketches. A few students create and order their own textiles and then make their clothing. Pieces from the Junk2Funk and annual DIMES spring fashion shows are displayed, as well.

“It can be something they made in their apparel classes, or it can be something that they have been working on at home; anything they want to be publicly seen,” Ham said.

Last year’s showcase brought a celebrity guest to the university. April Johnston, Project Runway Judge, came to see the showcase last spring. Johnston is originally from Savannah, and was a student of Georgia Southern Professor, Hope Wallace.

Professor Wallace and Johnston still keep in contact and she was happy to come to the show and network with students, Glover said.

“April was very friendly and personally asked me what my major was and what I wanted to do with my career. I think almost everyone got the chance to introduce themselves to her,” Jasmine Mayes, FM assistant president said.

The Menageries have weekly meetings that consist of workshops to help launch members towards their career. The workshops include anything from building a resume to showing members the in and outs of the fashion industry in the business world.

“We are more business oriented then other fashion organizations. We are creative, but we are more focused on helping students get a job when they graduate,” Rochelle Ham, FM president said.

Fashion Menageries do not stray far from being unique. They are the only fashion organization on campus with their own magazine.

“We create Georgia Southern’s only fashion magazine—FM magazine– which came out before the end of the spring semester,” Ham said.

The magazine is an outlet for fashion students to showcase what they can do, and how creative they can be with what they do.

FM magazine is now fully online which allows members make weekly posts or to update it weekly. They recently did a piece on Obama’s inauguration speech. They focused on the outfits and fashion trends of Michelle Obama and Beyonce.

“It shows their work in terms of being a trend reporter, a fashion blogger, a stylist or even a person who works on photo shoots,” Miah Glover, FM Magazine editor said.

The Menageries are looking for new students this year to join their team. Anyone who wants to be involved can join; there is no limit on the amount of members.

Although it is geared towards fashion merchandising and apparel majors or minors, The Menageries are lenient with those who are specifically interested in the magazine aspect, Ham said.

It is a good way to gain experience and meet people, but it is also a big element in helping build up your resume,” Glover said.