All CBD businesses lost something, if not everything 12 months ago and the fact that 60% are back operating once again around the block is a testament to their strength and resilience under extreme conditions.

Many businesses have taken the opportunity to not only build back better or be more flood resilient but have gone for a total identity change so they can look forward and not be reminded of an extremely difficult past.

Julia Taranto did exactly that when she dropped My Tailoress Boutique and adopted the new name Paris in the Strand.

"I wanted to have done something positive," Julia told the Lismore App, "And the way I could get the flood to have done something positive, for me, was to change the business name and change the look of the shop. To give the town this romantic, eclectic collection of dresses."

Part of the positive approach Julia is taking is to put on a fashion parade of this year's High School Formal Dresses this Saturday from 4pm out the front of Paris in the Strand in the Strand Arcade off Molesworth Street.

The previous three years have not been kind to high school students with two years of the COVID global pandemic meaning there were no formals taking place and 2022 had a totally different feeling because of what the community went through and particularly what flood-affected students went through.

"The kids that were coming through during those periods didn't even know if they were having a formal. They didn't know whether it was going to take place. It was very difficult for them really, really stressful."

"Last year and this year, the kids are in trauma, in a sense, because their schools have gone, they've lost their schools. They're trying to re-school within somebody else's space in someone else's school. That's not how they imagined their Year 12 was going to play out. So I can't imagine it being easy. We hope that we're going to give the town something nice, something new."

For the class of 2023, the something nice is to showcase a new collection for this year's formals.

"The girls can see all the beautiful styles that are coming through for the year and know that they can purchase their gowns locally," Julia said.

"We have some beautiful designers. The two major ones are Australian designers. So, Tanya Olson, she's a Brisbane designer, we stock her label and Jadora is also an Australian label that is extremely well known as well. It's the two main labels that people are going up to the Gold Coast for, they can get them here in Lismore."

The Paris in the Strand Fashion Show for Year 12 Formal Dresses is this Saturday from 4pm in the Strand Arcade, off Molesworth Street.