At Fashion Show, Candidate Announces in Style

At Fashion Show, Candidate Announces in Style

It certainly wasn’t your typical buttoned-down Republican candidate announcement.

At what he claimed was the largest independent fashion show ever in New England, producer Giovanni Calise took the event as an opportunity to announce he was running as state rep before a packed audience of 2,200 at the Twin River Casino.

The show drew 90 models, 40 singers, and 10 dancers from all over New England in a three-hour event that featured 10 designers, including Old Navy. Calise’s company, Giovanni Fashion Concert, produced the event, in conjunction with 4zero1.com.

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Calise, a 30-year-old Republican from West Warwick (pictured at left top), told GoLocalProv that his campaign will focus on improving the business climate in Rhode Island, addressing unfunded mandates on communities, and targeting school funds to students rather than administrators. “The main thing is, it’s not about politics—it’s about people,” Calise said.

The fashion show will be his last one. “We went out with a bang,” Calise said.

Aside from his campaign, he said he wants to focus on raising money for charity.