Experiencing SHRINE: A transmedia fashion show by Faculty of Arts students explores cults through fashion

Would you pull off a large-scale transmedia show, gathering a full house of 140 attendees, for a module assignment? Well, Media and Creative Industries students at Warwick’s Faculty of Arts did just that, with a transmedia show titled SHRINE held on 21 May. From the minds of creative directors Gobi Cheung and Isaac Phelan, this show was nothing short of an extraordinary immersive experience.

SHRINE was more than just another creative work done for the sake of getting a grade

Five months in the making, nine hand-crafted looks made with discarded fabrics from Coventry Recycling Centre, and hours of research and teamwork: for Cheung and Phelan it was “more than just another creative work done for the sake of getting a grade”. Before SHRINE, Gobi Cheung creatively directed a Hong Kong-based student fashion show, attended Gucci Cosmos Shanghai Opening Night and the latest London Fashion Week A/W 2024, networking with the CEO of British Fashion Council, Caroline Rush.

The whole show lived up to its advertised ‘never-before-seen eccentric spectacle’ title

The transmedia event opened with a cryptic documentary followed by a fashion show, with models taking over the runway in an utterly artistic manner. The whole show lived up to its advertised “never-before-seen eccentric spectacle” title. At times, SHRINE was confusing and menacing, as the audience quite literally filled the room with complete silence, perhaps, because they were left speechless. The intriguing visuals, theatrical light show, and hypnotising runway performance built up the immersive experience. There was a feeling of being submerged into a dark and distant imagined space, with nobody around but a spectator facing the art – a feeling that did not leave until the lights came back.

Many of us may be a part of a cult right now

“Why does it [the documentary] feel like a cult?”, the only question overheard in the audience was, indeed, a correct guess. As the film introduced the American religious movement of the 1970s to the 1990s, Heaven’s Gate, the audience was caught off guard when exposed to the intense narration of the movement’s troubled and tragic history.

According to the event’s hosts, the show’s idea was inspired by a conversation with Professor Dennis Tourish, of the University of Sussex, who described Irish Militant Tendency, a Trotskyist Political Party, as a cult to “demystify religious attachment to the definition”. Through the transmedia show, Cheung and Phelan thus intended to delve into the concept of popular cult groups in social institutions. “Many of us may be a part of a cult right now”, the creative directors confess, and this project aims to raise awareness of the dangers of ignorance.

The models’ theatrical display of clothing was a cherry on top of the show’s eccentricity

The film, however, was just an introduction to the clothing pieces, created from a variety of scrap fabrics and fur, and exploring uniforms as a vital element of identification in cult-like communities. While in the case of Heaven’s Gate, Nike Decade shoes were notably associated with the movement, each clothing in the SHRINE paid homage to various cultic groups from UFO worshippers to horror films and mundane office life. As Cheung explains the thought process behind the fashion show: “Clothing is a symbolic product with social, cultural, and religious meanings that often interweave with the fabric itself.”

The models’ theatrical display of clothing was the cherry on top of the show’s eccentricity – their embracing of the bizarre nature of cult behaviour for a fashion show is, perhaps, only comparable to John Galliano’s Maison Margiela Artisanal S/S 2024 Haute Couture show (theatre is so back in fashion!). If you ever wonder what happens backstage when pulling off such a performance, the models practised by pretending to be a T-Rex!

The idea behind SHRINE was, undoubtedly, worth exploring, as cults in contemporary popular culture do seemingly exist. One of the most high-profile celebrities, Kanye West’s (now known as Ye), famous Sunday Services which have been held since early 2019 reportedly exhibits cult-like features. Initially held in secret locations, with an invite-only entrance for A-list celebrities and an NDA signing policy, the event was made public at Coachella 2019. To this day, the artist’s listening parties, as NPR Music describe, exert a cult-like aura with thousands of “true believers” excessively “rallying around a chaotic idol”. Fashion has been an integral part of Ye’s shows as well, with all performers wearing rapper’s Yeezy clothing line.

When we talk about cults in contemporary popular culture, Yeezy clothing could just resemble what Nike Decade was as a fashion statement for identifying with a sort of community, or cult. This seems to be exactly what Cheung and Phelan aimed to do with SHRINE: This Immersive Transmedia Fashion Show 2024 makes you think of popular institutions that, similarly to cults, exercise social control, with fashion as a key identifying detail.