Bellarmine College Preparatory announced that "En Fuego!” its 54th Annual Mothers' Guild Fashion Show for Financial Aid, will take place on November 21, 2008 at The Fairmont San Jose, first in a luncheon setting and later during a black tie dinner dance. “This year’s fashion show theme En Fuego! was selected because it is the hottest ticket in town and what is more on fire that this?” asked Dolores Martinez, 2008 Fashion Show Chair. “As this 54th year kicks off, we want to once again turn the focus to the reason we do this; the funds raised from this show give many boys the opportunity to experience Bellarmine and all it has to offer.”
“For 157 years, Bellarmine has maintained the tradition of educating adolescents while developing them to be ‘men for others,’” said Fr. Paul G. Sheridan, S.J., Bellarmine’s President. “Through their efforts with this long-standing annual fashion show, the Bellarmine mothers are role models for their sons, exemplifying what it means to be women for others.”
All proceeds from the 2008 Mothers’ Guild Fashion Show will benefit Bellarmine’s Financial Aid Endowment and Direct Financial Aid Program. Nearly 20 percent of the student body will receive financial aid this year. Since inception of the first fashion show in 1954, the Mothers’ Guild has donated more than $3 million to Bellarmine’s financial aid program. Last year, the sold-out fashion show raised $301,000 for financial aid.
“The Bellarmine community is diverse,” said Mark Pierotti, Bellarmine’s Principal. “Through the money raised at this annual event highly qualified students, who otherwise would not be able to attend, will benefit from a Catholic education in the Jesuit tradition.”
Men’s, women’s and teen’s fashions will be presented in two shows on November 21, 2008 at The Fairmont San Jose. Luncheon show guests are predominately women while the black tie dinner dance attracts couples. Fashions selected for this year’s show will be modeled by professionally trained and choreographed Bellarmine seniors, faculty and mothers as well as by senior girls from Bay Area high schools.
En Fuego! will feature clothing designs from Santana Row and Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair: Eli Thomas for Men, Macy’s, Jessica McClintock, Club Monaco, Tommy Bahama and Brooks Brothers. Photography provided by Al Bacosa of Bacosa Photography, hair design by Dustin David Salon and makeup by Urban Decay Cosmetics. San Jose Magazine is the exclusive print media sponsor for the Bellarmine Fashion Show.
The annual Bellarmine Fashion Show is traditionally a sold out event with guests attending from throughout the Bay Area including the following counties: Santa Clara, San Benito, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin and Contra Costa.
For more information about the event, including donation prize drawings and purchasing lunch or dinner tickets, please visit the Bellarmine Mothers’ Guild Web site at www.bcp.org/enfuego2008 or call the Bellarmine Mothers’ Guild at 408-294-9224, ext. 209.
Bellarmine College Preparatory has been educating young men since 1851, when it was originally founded on the campus of Santa Clara University. The school has been located on West Hedding in San Jose’s College Park district for more than 80 years. Bellarmine students are educated in the Jesuit tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, and are encouraged to become “men for others.
