22 October 2008

The Intercultural Fashion Show 2008

A Night of Fashion after the Sakura Festival

By Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake

On 11th October, the annual IPC Students Association (IPCSA) Fashion Show took place in the IPC Recreation Centre. The first Fashion Show was held in 2006 as a means of raising funds for charity, using the momentum created by the Sakura Festival. The show was entitled the "Sakura Fashion Show" for 2 years but this year it was named the "Intercultural Fashion Show".

The night began with a Taiko performance by the Japanese drum team and an opening speech from the organisers. The first collection out on the catwalk was traditional clothes. This year, there were more countries represented, compared with the last 2 years. These included: Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Caledonia, South Korea, Tahiti, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Opening Taiko performance by the Japanese drum team

Traditional clothes collection modelled by students

The Recreation Centre was turned into a catwalk arena

Next, the collections from local clothing stores in Palmerston North such as Glassons, Hallensteins, and Jeans West, were modelled on the catwalk by the students. There was also something new for this year in that a theme was given for each collection, for example: nightlife, street fashion, Casablanca, etc. The models would act according to the theme as they walked down the catwalk. In between the collection showings, students from Japan, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Vietnam, Thailand and India performed traditional dances. "It was a great pleasure to train the models and to participate in the Intercultural Fashion Show for the second time. It is always a challenge but I was happy to see how the students enjoyed doing something different for the good of others." commented Julia Kallas (a 2007 student).

Furthermore, one of the co-organisers, Herenui Mercier (a 2005 student) reported as follows:

"For this year's Fashion Show, Sayaka, Sam and I were the main organisers. During the three months leading up to the Fashion Show, we had to overcome many challenges but we made it to our goal!! Sayaka and Sam were both really hardworking, careful and effective and the cohesiveness of our group resulted in the success of the Fashion Show.

First, we set up a Fashion Show Committee with Kenneth in charge of Sushi, Jeremy in charge of the music, Esther and Elodie in charge of performances and backstage on the night, plus Francisco and Tee in charge of the catering program. Kenichi was our Treasurer and Julia was in charge of the models' training. Moreover, the Events Committee helped us a lot and I don't think this event would have occurred if they were not there for us as a very effective and efficient group, especially for decoration, security and cleaning up. Thank you guys!

The charity committee was also part of the Fashion Show as all the proceeds from the event will go to World Vision or the Sponsor a Child Association.

Once the Fashion Show Committee was set up, three months ago we finally got down to what each of us had to do. It took more than three months to organise such a big event, especially because we were all students and we had to deal with professionals and had to cope with the last minute issues that can always happen. It was not an easy job. However I am certain that most of the students involved in the show will retain great memories and use the experience they gained throughout their future life.

A collection from one of the local clothing stores

A Japanese traditional dance

The organisers of the Intercultural Fashion Show, Herenui Mercier (a 2005 student) and Samuel Gronn O'Brien (a 2007 student)

The sponsors were mainly the shops willing to lend us the clothes for the show, such as Glassons, GQ Clothing, Hallensteins, Jeans West, Colorado, Posh, Kilt and Indigo. All of them were pretty kind to us as their staff did not make our work hard and were always happy to help us in any way. And they were really excited to see the show as well.

The Fashion Show Committee also collected private funds from lovely people who wanted to help us put together a wonderful Fashion Show. Plus the Sakura after party under the Sakura trees was not free and the money collected that night was used mainly to pay for The Intercultural Fashion Show 08' posters. Moreover, The Hair Dressing School was amazing, giving 25 models a wonderful hair style for the night.

What's more, many students were involved in the show in many different ways. For example we had students who took the models to town for their appointments with the shops to try on their outfits. There were also the students who did make up or just helped models to fix their hair. There were 37 models involved, plus 25 people in charge of serving people.

Food and Alcohol became an issue for us throughout the whole preparation time and especially two weeks before the night. So the committee kindly asked Lufi Withers to help us out and she said yes in her very friendly way. She and her dining hall staff did a good job for us and the event. Without them the night would not have been so magical.

To conclude, the night was not only a succeess according to our guests but primarily was a significant success for the charity committee. So far we have collected enough money to help great organisations like World Vision and maybe some others. I do apologise, but I am not allowed to mention the amount yet. Lastly, the event brought smiles to many faces. The whole point of the Fashion Show was to raise funds in an enjoyable way and for people to become friends for life."

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