Showcasing the latest spring hair and fashion trends and raising funds for Center on Halsted, an LGBT community center, Strut Your Cut Productions will entertain Boystown and Chicago residents with its version of Fashion Week.

Strut Your Cut is scheduled to host its third annual fashion show—the second at the center—April 10 from 6–9 p.m. 

“[Strut Your Cut] is not like your typical runway show,” said show director Philip Abellana, a fashion stylist. “It’s going to feel like you’re attending New York Fashion Week but with a twist.”

Abellana said local drag queens, dancers and musicians are scheduled to perform at the event.

Strut Your Cut founder Seanpaul Harris, a barber, said, “[The show] is not just going to be a lot of standing around. Some of the models may come out and dance with people.”

Harris said he created the event to launch a unique and fun charity organization that raises money to help youth working with the Test Positive Aware Network and Center on Halsted, located at 3656 N. Halsted St.

Abellana said he was approached to produce the fashion show because Harris, who cuts his hair, knew he had a background in fashion. Abellana said he is in charge of determining which hairstyle trends to feature based on his experience working at New York Fashion Week for the last four years.

Abellana said this year’s event will showcase three looks—athletic wear, swimwear and “going-out” clothes—two more than last year’s show, which was “Reality Meets Fantasy.”

Harris said he coordinates hair, clothing and music so the show is cohesive.

“The center has been a really big help for us with exposure and marketing,” Abellana said. “We wanted to keep that relationship with the center [this year].”

The relationship came about, Harris said, when several of his hair clients learned he was looking for a new location for the show and offered him a tour of the center.

Peter Johnson, director of public relations for Center on Halsted, said programs like Strut Your Cut bring people together from the Lakeview neighborhood while attracting new guests who might not know about the work the center does.

“The fashion show is a great opportunity for outside partners and supporters to come in and produce some programming that not only raises awareness about our services and programs but also raises funds for them,” Johnson said.

Abellana said helping Center on Halsted fundraise is important to him because of the work the center does in the area.

“The center helps a lot of youth within the Chicagoland community,” Abellana said. “It’s a [place] for them to hang out [in] and be themselves, be free and express themselves without being scared.”

The Strut Your Cut Charity Fashion Show is scheduled for April 10 at Center on Halsted. RSVPs are preferred, and a $10 suggested donation can be made at Community.CenteronHalsted.org/SYC2016.