LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla.— Khyla Beaujin’s first fashion show as a designer was over, and she described the backstage chaos to her mother.
Where are the models?
Where are their shoes?
Who has the jewelry?
Khyla was frustrated at times and overwhelmed at others because the designers shared models and the models shared shoes, and confusion reigned. But she maintained her composure and pulled everything together, and the models strutted the catwalk with quiet poise, wearing Khyla’s spring collection.
It was a proud night for Khyla, then 12 years old, because she worked hard creating her collection during the months leading up to the event.
Khyla recounted all this to her mom post-show in a breathless monologue.
“The look on her face, the smile, I’m like, ‘Oh, I love this for you.’” Sheyla Bens Beaujin said.
Year One as a student at the South Florida Fashion Academy (SF/FA) ended that night for Khyla, and Sheyla knew her daughter was where she needed to be, attending a school that would nurture her love for fashion design.
Khyla is now a seventh grader at SF/FA, a private Pre-K-12 school in Lauderdale Lakes that incorporates fashion design, cosmetology, nail technology, barbering, skin care, business, and entrepreneurship with core classes. Khyla attends the school with the help of a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship managed by Step Up For Students and funded by corporate donations to the nonprofit.
“This is her passion,” Sheyla said, “so finding that school was really a life-saving experience. She’s found so much joy and purpose there.”
While Khyla was involved in a number of extracurricular activities and sports at her previous school, Calvary Christian Academy, her interest always returned to fashion design.
It’s something Khyla picked up from her mom at an early age, when Sheyla started her own children’s clothing line – KHYKOUTURE – and used Khyla as a model. Khyla enjoys walking the runway but not as much as she enjoys finding a top and a blanket at a thrift store and using her imagination, a sewing machine, and all the tools in her sewing kit to turn them into a dress or gown.
“I guess seeing my mom make all those outfits for me when I was little inspired me to do the same,” Khyla said.
Sheyla learned of SF/FA on social media when Khyla was in the fifth grade. She and Khyla toured the school, which is a 30-minute drive from their Hollywood home. All Khyla had to see was Room 117, which is filled with mannequins and sewing machines, and she was sold.
“Best room in the school,” Khyla said.
She enrolled in the sixth grade for the 2023-24 school year, eager to see what the world of fashion was all about.
Now Khyla talks about attending a fashion school in New York City and having her work featured during Fashion Week in Paris, London, and New York.
“That’s why I’m glad I’m going to this school so I can work on my skills,” she said. “I think I’m really going to do this. I’m really going to pursue this dream and stick to it till the end.”
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In 2018, Taj McGill started a fashion program for students in South Florida that met in a one-room building on Saturdays. By 2021, she realized there was enough interest to start a dedicated school. SF/FA now has 75 students, many of them with dreams as big as Khyla’s.
McGill, who grew up in South Florida, has a degree in fashion design and merchandising. She has worked in various careers within the fashion industry for more than 20 years. She’s attending Fashion Week in those far-off cities. Her students are introduced to a cross-section of people from the fashion industry.
“South Florida isn’t really known as a fashion capital although it is beginning to develop. I am intentional about exposing our students to the various careers within the industry and introducing creatives to professionals that inspire them to dream,” McGill said. “They can actually have a job in these specific career fields that we cater to here at SF/FA. They can flourish in those industries.
“If there were a school like this when I was a child, oh, my God, I would have been in heaven. If I was able to complete my core academic classes and then have classes in fashion or beauty or business, it would have been so great for me. So, I essentially created what I wanted as a child.”
In addition to the sewing lab, there is a room with barber chairs for hairstyling and another for nail technology and cosmetology. Students can dually enroll in the fashion program at Saint Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Miami Fashion Institute, or the University of South Florida.
“You don’t get this kind of experience anywhere else,” Khyla said.
Every student is involved in the end-of-the-year fashion show, from the designers to the models, to the cosmetologist to the hair stylist. The photography, video, social media, red carpet, and marketing are all done by students.
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In nearly two years at SF/FA, Khyla has emerged as one of the school’s top students, with a 4.0 GPA. Her designs allow her to stand out, as well.
“She’s determined,” McGill said. “She works really, really hard, and it’s important to her to be a leader to her peers.”
Last year, Khyla designed three outfits for the fashion show. This year, it could be as many as seven. It will feature a rainbow of princess gowns inspired by the movie “Inside Out 2,” where the emotions of the main character, a teenage girl, are represented by characters of different colors. Anger is red. Envy is green.
“It was a little confusing at first because I knew I wanted to do the theme, but I didn’t know what I wanted to make it,” she said. “So, I was like, ‘OK, let me just do princess dresses,’ and I can just do them with the ‘Inside Out’ colors and incorporate them into the designs.”
Sheyla has never seen the movie, so she’s not sure what Khyla is trying to accomplish. But that’s the case with all of Khyla’s concepts.
“When she tells me about them and I don’t get what she’s trying to do, she tells me, ‘Wait till you see where it’s going,’ and then I see the final product and I’m amazed,” she said.
Sheyla took a sewing class in Miami before starting her children’s line. She was the only adult in the class. The rest were students who were homeschooled.
“That stuck with me because I wanted my children to have the same opportunities,” she said.
Now a detention sergeant with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Sheyla can give Khyla the educational opportunity she wished she had, thanks to Step Up For Students.
“Without Step Up, Khyla would have never gotten the opportunity to be in this school,” Sheyla said. “So, it’s a wonderful thing that kids like Khyla can have an opportunity to let their talent flourish while focusing also on her academics.”
At SF/FA, McGill serves as a role model, as do the guest lecturers. The students feed off each other’s creativity and dreams. Khyla talks about attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and having her designs featured at all the big shows in Paris and London.
“That makes me proud,” Sheyla said, “and it allows me to encourage her because I know those dreams are attainable.”
