Rowan University has always been known to offer new opportunities and resources to students as far as giving current and incoming students the chance to be more involved in the student community. 

Over 150 organizations and clubs within the university are chartered through Rowan SGA, giving students the chance to explore different hobbies and interests within our community. Beauty in Distress is among those organizations. 

Beauty in Distress (BID) is a fashion organization that aims to create a space for all aspiring artists, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and designers to express themselves through their art. 

“We strive for creativity and innovation to bring the Rowan community together by recreating art,” said BID President, Keishanna Williams. “All students are encouraged to become involved and express themselves through style and personality. Fashion tells a story and in Beauty in Distress, we recognize all differences and trends that people adopt.” 

As president, Williams seeks to maintain the legacy of the organization and share the spark she had as a new member. 

“I join[ed] because I love expressing myself through fashion with different styles every day,” Willams said. “Buying clothes is my self-care mechanism and it makes me happy to see people interested in presentation and style.” 

Williams’ life motto is, “when you look good, you feel good,” and hopes to spread that same confident energy within her organization. 

Williams has aspirations of becoming a well-known fashion influencer one day and feels BID could potentially open the door to endless opportunities within the business world. 

BID holds an annual Fashion Show which takes place at the end of the Spring semester. The organization prepares for this show all year by brainstorming clothing and hairstyle ideas, scouting for models, and booking local performers for the shows.

The show will feature roughly ten different business vendors. This event is one of Williams’ favorites due to the fact that so many people come to support and show love to local businesses. 

The club welcomes all different business vendors – other than clothing – to table at their events. Previous events included businesses specializing in hair products, photography, makeup, accessories, and more. 

Beauty in Distress collaborates with other organizations, clubs, and fraternities/sororities for their pop-up shops. These events often consist of five vendors, a small fashion show, fundraisers, and more. 

BID collaborated with RAH last year for Black History Month and plans to continue to do more collaborations within the upcoming school year. 

Beauty in Distress’s first collaborated pop-up series will be “Styling for Tomorrow” with Rowan’s Love and Lux. 

BID will host its very own fashion week on Oct. 24 through Oct. 28. During that week, BID will have different events every day to bring awareness to the club and the community within it. 

Fashion week will start off with a workshop event for students to paint and design their own personal reusable totes. 

More information for BID can be found on their Instagram page, @bid_rowan.

For questions/comments about this story email the.whit.arts@gmail.com or tweet @TheWhitOnline.