About 400 people filled the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union as the members of GLAM, a registered student organization focused on modeling, took the stage for the group’s fall fashion show.

The “Once Upon a Time” show combined music, dance and modeling into one show, which told the story of a girl who tells her father about the monsters in her dreams and how they differ from the fairy tales he’s telling her before she falls asleep.

As she tells the stories, they come to life in the form of dance and model runway walks, which were performed by GLAM’s 33 models.

Jeremy Nowell, the founder and president of GLAM, said the theme of the show was fairy tales with a twist that included zombies, ghouls and alternate endings to the fairy tales.

Nowell, a senior journalism major, goes by the name “Prince.” He said the goal was to “keep people on their toes.”

“We wanted to choose something that people were familiar, but put our spin on it,” Nowell said. “You have Grimm’s fairy tales and now you have GLAM fairy tales.”

Qwanell Anthony Mosley, who goes by the stage name of “Anthony Q,” hosted the show.

Mosley was a member of the band Day26, which was comprised of the winners of the TV show “Making the Band 4” in 2007.

Nowell said the reasoning behind getting Mosley to host was an attempt for GLAM to “out-do” itself.

“We’re known as the organization on campus that books some of the best acts that people want to see,” Nowell said. “We’re always trying to out-do ourselves and take it to the next level.”

The show opened with a performance by Rhythm and X-tacy, a dance group, who performed a zombie themed dance to a mash-up of Nicki Minaj songs, as well as “I Whip My Hair Back and Forth” which is performed by Willow Smith and other songs.

Two of members of the group dressed up as Minaj and Smith.

The modeling began with a tribute to Disney’s “Pocahontas” and featured models in tan colored clothing designed to look like animal hides and voiceovers pre-recorded by the models.

Nowell said about half of the outfits were designed and produced from scratch while the others were produced from pieces found in thrift stores and were altered by the members of the group.

Stephanie Saintyl, a sophomore psychology major, played the role of Pocahontas and said she joined the group after Nowell complemented her on her style.

“I like fashion because you can basically create your own style,” Saintyl said. “You can wear something people might not think would look good on you and it will look amazing.”

Other tales featured included “Cinderella,” where the prince ends up with the evil stepsisters, “Jasmine and Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Josh Cahill, a senior English major, attended the show to support Nowell, who is his fraternity brother.

“I’ve never been to a fashion show, but it sounded cool and it’s an experience,” he said.

Tickets to the event cost $10 ahead of time and $12 at the door, although proceeds went to benefit The V Foundation, which raises money for cancer and Teen Reach.

“Teen Reach is really cool because it helps students just like us around the Charleston area,” Nowell said.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.