Emerging talent takes to the catwalk in London
GCU London students recently joined forces with local creatives for a night of fashion and fundraising.
The fashion show was held on the 4th of May and provided a platform for emerging talent from minority backgrounds to showcase their designs while also raising money for the charity, One By One.
The event combined a panel discussion with a pop-up shop and runway show. We sat down with MSc Fashion and Lifestyle Marketing student Ifeoluwa Sholola to find out more.
What was the idea behind the GCU London fashion showcase?
“Most of the students at GCU London are international students, we don’t have many students from the UK. A lot of us already have a background in fashion, including our own businesses that we’re involved with, but we don’t have an insight into how fashion events are run in Britain. After discussions with my fellow students, we realised that it was very important for us to have that opportunity to network with people from the world of fashion. We wanted to gain that knowledge of how things are run but also have the chance to meet people from the industry and boost our CV.
“I obviously wanted it to be something that would benefit GCU London and its students, but also benefit people outside our community. I reached out to Istituto Maragoni, which is another fashion school in London. They were really interested in getting involved because they have a lot of international students and do a lot of work around fashion design, so this showcase gave them the chance to show off their work.
“The event also raised funds from ticket sales for One By One, a charity which supports different causes around the world. The whole thing was how we could help students but also wider society – it was also a good fit for the Common Good ethos of the University.”
The general theme was underrepresented talent in today’s world, tell me a bit about the idea behind that?
“A lot of us come from minority groups and we don’t have many connections in the industry that represent where we’re really coming from. The event was an avenue for us to get to know each other in a creative space. We all have different backgrounds, different cultures, so this was a way of bringing us together.
“We had some work on show from students studying at Maragoni. We also had a pop-up stand where people were able to sell merchandise with 10% of profits going towards the charity. This allowed other creatives to come along on the night and share their talents.”
Tell me a bit about the structure of the overall event on the night?
“Guests were invited to shop the stands when they arrived, giving them the chance to look at some of the different clothing items on sale to them.
“One By One helped open the event by giving a talk about the work they do. It was inspiring to hear about their work. They have an initiative in Sri Lanka where they support women whose husbands died in the civil war. The charities support allows them to develop skills to basically survive.
“We then had our panel session before the event started. We had someone who previously studied at GCU that now helps minorities meet brands through her social media agency. We also had GCU career coach Sandra Rhule speak to us about different opportunities available to us. It gave us the opportunity to pick their brains about how to navigate the industry – it’s always useful to have a little bit of guidance!”
Everything obviously led up to the runway show, how did that go?
“We had a partnership with a modelling agency, so they kindly lend us some of their models who volunteered for free. We also had some students who agreed to model as well. We had a total of 12 students showcasing their designs on the night. Some of the students were from other institutions, but we just wanted to help fellow creatives get the chance to show off their work.
“We probably had about 100 guests there in total, so it was nice to see people coming out to support it. We managed to raise £160 but we’re looking at ways to come up with further funds for the charity.”
How proud are you of the event?
“It isn’t easy organising something like this with limited funds, but overall I would say it was a success. It was challenging at points and a definite learning curve for me because I’ve never organised a fashion show before. This has opened my eyes to all of the different possibilities out there.
“It was an excellent way to finish my degree. I’m grateful that GCU provided so much support throughout the whole process.”
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By Ross Clark
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter