By Gloria Cueva| Staff Writer

Behind the runway, people are running around like crazy. Models’ clothes are being ripped off and shoved on. Zippers are in jeopardy of being broken by the quick hands attempting to zip them. This hectic scene is one many would run from, but up and coming fashion designer, Felix Cueva thinks otherwise.

“Fashion is unlike any other work atmosphere I have experienced. It is a free flowing form of art that is continually changing,” Cueva said.

Felix is currently in his senior year at San Antonio International Academy of Art & Design, and is already on his way to becoming a well know Fashion Designer.

“The photoshoot which my team and I are working on is to begin my professional portfolio.” Cueva said.

As well as his portfolio Cueva has participated in the local Evolve Fashion Show and been featured on Good Morning SA.

“The last collection of dresses I created seemed to create a ‘hype’ with the general public, therefore I thought it best to begin gaining publicity through the process of publication,” Cueva said.

Fashion design here at Johnson is not as advance as Cueva’s, but we still have some fashion junkies roaming the halls.

“When I think of fashion I think of a runway model wearing an abstract dress, and sky high heels,” Junior Liz Silva said.

She may not want to be a fashion guru, but she definitely has respect for people that want to try to make it a career.

“Fashion is a beautiful art form, and to be able to work with fashion is wonderful,” Silva said. “Fashion is an extremely hard thing to have a career in, and you need to be extremely talented to even maybe make it.”

Employment of fashion designers is projected to decline 3 percent from 2012 to 2022, but that doesn’t stop Cueva from wanting to pursue his passion.

“I know fashion is a hard career to really succeed in,”  Cueva said. “It’s hard to say, one day you can be nothing and the next you may be at New York Fashion Week.”

But even with that dark cloud hanging over, many people still believe it’s possible.

“Every successful story demands hard work,” Eve Korun, one of Cueva’s models said.”If someone is interested in fashion, pursue fashion, be fashion, live fashion. It is not necessarily going to be easy, but at the end it is definitely going to be worth it.

Teenagers often dream big, but not many actually persue those dreams. Many people believe it’s time to change that.

“Follow your intuition and always stay open to trying out new things,” Korun said. “You never know what you might fall in love with. Life is full of surprises.”

Jennifer Pelts, a fashion design student here at Johnson, believes in following her dreams.”

I feel like nowadays people don’t really end up doing what they love to do, because they don’t think they can, but that isn’t true. You can do whatever you set your mind to,” Pelts said.

Fashion can go farther than just clothing. It may just teach you a lesson as well.

“I think with anything, not just fashion, it’s important to remember that if you want to achieve something,” Cueva said. “You have to really want, and really work hard for it. It’s not just going to happen on it’s own.”

Young adults must always remember one thing.

“Anything is possible. Never think anything is unattainable, because it isn’t,”Cueva said. “I mean in a sense I’m already doing what I’ve dreamed of doing. I’m just expanding on it, and it’s happening, because I wished it and worked hard to make it happen.”