Behind the Fashion & Nostalgia
It’s that time of year again – One World Week, the world’s largest student run international event, returns to Warwick from 25th January – 2nd February 2014. Kicking it all off in style, quite literally, is the highly anticipated fashion show ‘Nostalgia’ on Saturday night. Its co-ordinators Dorine Mwesiga and Kristina Gosheva spare some time to chat to Boar Lifestyle. Let’s talk fashion, models and nostalgia.
Boar Lifestyle: One World Week celebrates the cultural diversity of our student population. How do you think fashion plays a role in this celebration?
Dorine: I think the fashion show is the perfect forum to showcase the traditional dress of the wide variety of cultures and ethnic backgrounds that make up our student population. It highlights the importance of celebrating differences in cultural styles.
Kristina: I agree. As a History of Art student, I see the way people dress and where they are from as intrinsically connected. The fashion show is a good way to convey a part of every culture’s tradition. Also, as a visual art it can reach out and really capture the imagination.
BL: The fashion show is always highly anticipated – what made you want to take control this time around?
D: My interest in OWW began at my first Societies Fair, but it was when I saw my first Fashion Show that I was truly blown away. The celebration of five continents in one spectacular event is an incredible thing. After being involved in societies for a long time, I decided that I wanted to take on a more challenging role.
K: For me, I actually knew about OWW before I came to university – it was one of the main reasons I chose Warwick! I have always participated in cultural festivals and as a performer, I saw from the inside how and what I could do to improve it. Why the Fashion Show? When I first saw the show, I fell in love with it – it is where societies’ bring their best.
BL: So, the theme of the show is Nostalgia – how did you decide on it?
D: Ah… it certainly took some time. We knew we wanted to base our show on seasons and emotions, yet we needed an overarching theme with a bit more mystery and interest to tie it all together.
K: First we came up with Melancholy but it didn’t work, it was far too sad an emotion. Finally, and after some time, I thought of Nostalgia and it was perfect. Everyone gets nostalgic and we wanted to relate that emotion to every season.
BL: What will the show feature?
D: Well, we do not want to give too much away, but we can promise it will be memorable! On the fashion side of things, we have a combination of stunning OWW and society models representing twenty different cultures, from Nordic to Oriental to Arab.
K: The show is also not just an exhibition of clothing. We are showcasing the best performance societies such as Warwick Tricking & Freerunning, Music Theatre Warwick, Salsa, Classical and Modern Dance, and the Warwick Devils in order to guarantee an exhilarating union of culture and fashion.
D: There is also a special guest act from London! These performances are merged with our Fashion skits in order to help transfer our conceptual ideas across to the audience.
BL: Where have the clothes been sourced?
D: This year the clothes will be upping the ante. We are lucky enough to have fashion students from the likes of the London School of Art to Bulgaria designing for the event.
K: Having more students design themselves certainly makes the showpieces more creative and original. Our models will also be wearing designs from local independent boutiques, such as The Dressing Room Leamington and Girl Meets Dress, exclusive online retailers and we even have the Body Shop and Toni & Guy on board to do make-up and hair.
D: It’s great because they are just as excited to be part of this event as we are to have them involved!
BL: Talk us through the model selection process.
D: After advertising on Facebook and spreading the word, auditions were held at the beginning of Term One. From 250 auditions, we chose 20 student models who range from undergraduates to postgraduates.
K: The main thing we looked for was for our male and female models to reflect the wide cultural diversity that our university has. We were less interested in finding the traditional model type and more focused on each of their relationships to different cultures.
BL: In what ways are you hoping to make Nostalgia stand out from previous years?
K: This year’s show will be more unique in terms of fashion. There are no gimmicks. We want the show to visually arrest the audience and for it to be a wholly aesthetically pleasing experience.
BL: What has been your favourite part about co-ordinating this event?
D: Without sounding too emotional, it has definitely been working with the people involved and seeing how everyone has progressed from the very first stages to now.
K: Dorine is right. The experience would have been nothing without the people involved in it! Watching the whole show come together is an incredible feeling and I just cannot wait to see the audience’s reaction on Saturday night.
BL: For all those who are yet to buy tickets, how would you persuade them to do so?
D: The show has something for everyone – whether you like fashion, dancing or just watching beautiful people! Butterworth Hall is a great venue and the atmosphere is going to be electric.
K: There is a reason why the fashion show is the first event of OWW. It sets off the whole week in style and no other event could do with quite the same glamour and variety.
The OWW fashion show is on Saturday 25th January at 7pm and tickets are available now from the SU website.
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