A small Broward private school is training fashion’s next generation of Black talent

On a humid Friday night at a YMCA in Fort Lauderdale, high school students frantically ran around preparing for the biggest event of the school year — a fashion showcase for their work.

In one corner, a teenage barber was cleaning up another young man’s fade haircut before he walked the runway. In another, a young lady told her fashion designer classmate not to fret, assuring her that a model for her collection would arrive in the next few minutes.

In a shimmering bronze dress, South Florida Fashion Academy founder Taj McGill calmly stood in the center of the room to encourage students, greet parents and answer any questions. It was clear that this was not her first fashion show.

Students at McGill’s K-12 private school in Lauderdale Lakes study core subjects like math and English in addition to what McGill calls “the good stuff”: fashion, beauty and content creation, a class where students learn how to promote their work on social media. Access can be an issue for students of color pursuing careers in fashion, and McGill wants to empower students of all backgrounds to pursue their dreams.

“Our goal with South Florida Fashion Academy is to birth the next generation of fashion, beauty and business entrepreneurs and trailblazers, with an emphasis on our local Black community here in Miami-Dade and Broward counties,” she said.

McGill was born and raised in South Florida and always loved fashion as a young girl. Despite having her first child while still in school at Fort Lauderdale’s Dillard High, she graduated in 2000 and kept her sights on college.

At the suggestion of a cousin who saw a TV commercial for the now-defunct Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, McGill enrolled in the school to study fashion design and graduated in 2009.

After graduating from the Art Institute, McGill joined an online database called Model Mayhem and built a portfolio, hoping to explore opportunities in fashion, whether it was modeling, styling or something else.

Seeing the value of networking, she started The Stylist Firm, a social group for fashion professionals working as videographers, photographers and stylists. Those relationships led to her becoming a stylist for boxer Floyd Mayweather, model Eva Marcille and local talents.

“You have to create your own lane,” she said. “You can’t expect anyone else to prepare a table for you.”

By 2018, McGill had created a niche for her work in South Florida. She facilitated fashion events at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and three of the models she selected went on to walk in New York Fashion Week. But when she got fired from a job during that time, McGill realized she never wanted to give anyone the opportunity to fire her again.

Using a tax refund, she leased a one-room building in Fort Lauderdale and began charging monthly tuition to teach girls who wanted to pursue fashion or entrepreneurship. After a few years, McGill explored branching out into a larger location and launched the South Florida Fashion Academy in 2021.

Students are eligible for state scholarships to attend the school, which has dual enrollment partnerships with the University of South Florida, Arizona’s Penn Foster College, the Florida Academy of Health & Beauty, and the Miami Fashion Institute at Miami Dade College. Upon completion, those students can receive a certificate, college credits or a license based on their fashion or beauty specialty, in addition to their high school diploma.

The unique design of the school’s curriculum is not lost upon the students. At the beginning of his fashion show presentation earlier this month, student fashion designer Terreek Guillaume presented a moody menswear collection in shades of red and black. When he walked onstage afterward as the models cheered him on, he remarked on the long days he had spent at school making the collection come to life.

“I’ve enjoyed winning all the awards and all the projects we do,” he told the audience. “One thing I learned is how to sew. My favorite part of my collection was making it. My hardest part was coming to school from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and working on it all day.”

Because of her industry experience, McGill works to make sure students understand the business side of fashion just as much as the creative side. She wants students to know there are jobs in fashion beyond the runway.

“There are different types of models — hand models, fit models,” she said. “That’s our goal, to expose them to every job or career within those industries. You don’t realize there’s a fashion merchandiser in charge of the window displays.”

This past school year, there were 85 students studying at the academy, which has grown in size every year. Eight students graduated in 2023, and 10 graduated earlier this month. Two of the most recent graduates were accepted to the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology and Boca Raton’s Lynn University.

At the fashion show at the YMCA, parents Miriam and Wayne Scott beamed with pride at their daughter Sabrina, who modeled on the runway that night. The couple emigrated to South Florida from Jamaica in 2000 and seeing their daughter’s success affirmed their move to the U.S., they said.

“She’s been there for four months now,” Miriam Scott said with tears in her eyes. “It’s very emotional and amazing how much Ms. Taj puts into these kids.”

Looking ahead, McGill wants to increase enrollment and open another location in Miami in 2025. As she watched students receive flowers and applause from the audience after the fashion show, she remembered why she started the school.

“Kids who look like you need to see that representation definitely matters,” she said.