It’s a Lipstick Jungle out there

I thought that the best way of gaining an insight into the working of organising the OWW Fashion show would be to have a conversation with its two co-coordinators, Jennifer McGeever and Laura Cabarcos. It seems that organising the opening night of Warwick’s One World Week can be both a harrowing ordeal as well as a rewarding experience.

One of the initial dilemnas that they ran into was issues with the make-up sponsor for the show. Various ranges had to drop out, and were replaced gradually by No 7, Estee Lauder and Benefit. These then had to be added to the ad campaign posters, but they had already been printed, so other online methods had to be used to promote news of the sponsors.

Last minute changes, in fact, were a frequent occurrence in the run-up to the show. Two weeks before various models dropped out, and were replaced last minute by willing ‘good-looking’ friends of both co-ordinators that they hunted down through a few favour-calling-in phone calls.

Filming the video was also a rushed panic, as the clothes that were being lent to the fashion show by company Wish Want Wear only arrived on the morning of the shoot, and everything had to abruptly fall into place.

Both Jennifer and Laura feel that they were really thrown into the role, and given no real sense of direction as to how to plan or run the fashion show, therefore many spontaneous decisions took place and they were able to really plan the show exactly as they wanted it to be.

The most enjoyable part for Jennifer was definitely styling the film and the shoots, as she was able to creatively influence the outcome of the OWW trailer, which can currently be viewed online on both the Warwick SU and the OWW Fashion Show Facebook pages. The collaboration between some of the Varsity sports teams and the OWW models made for an interesting day, where stylish beauties posed with athletes at various locations around campus.

Another great part of running the show that they mentioned was the organisation skills and responsibility that they developed as planning went on.

Being in charge of all the volunteers for the fashion show, which includes the models, dancers and other entertainers, as well as costume designers, hair and make-up, lighting and sound technicians and of course the runners and other back stage helpers, proved to be one of the most difficult parts, yet also one of the most gratifying.

One also has to remember that they had to constantly attend meetings with the whole OWW team, ensuring a successful liaison with each of the other sections, Festival, Nights, Sports and Forum, and this proved challenging, especially as the total scale of the week encompasses around 250 members. Suddenly my determination to gain entry into the Fashion Show after party seemed rather pointless, though I went to Amara with the best of efforts.

The dresses worn during the show, sponsored by Wish Want Wear, were available afterwards on rails for the audience to take a closer look at. The whole concept of the show, ‘Rising from the ashes’, was brought to life by the catwalks being dominated by arts and crafts style patterns and prints, with a range of diverse cultures represented.

With a running time of just under three hours, the fashion show obviously didn’t just consist of catwalks. Traditional dances from cultural societies were performed with bright costumes that lit up the stage, and all in all the show provided a thorough taster of the kind of delights we can expect One World Week to bring.