As someone who hasn’t been to a lot of fashion shows, I didn’t have any expectations. A friend on my course had gone to UoN Fashion Society’s end of year fashion show last year, and said it was the best university fashion show she’d been to. After Kiara and I were invited to review the AW25 fashion show, I finally understood what she meant. I promise I’m not being biased when I say that University of Nottingham’s Fashion Society has one of the strongest university fashion societies in the country.
The theme of the fashion show was “Mirage” so I was excited about how the idea of illusions would manifest into the stylists’ ideas. After the fashion show, I even had the opportunity to interview the president of UoN’s Fashion Society, Samia Tinubu, where we got to talk about how it was preparing for the fashion show, and how her pieces played into escaping reality as well as dreams.
The dim lighting as well as the orange floor lights used during the fashion show helped to create a relaxed but also intimate atmosphere, which helped to create a dreamy feel, which was on theme with the fashion show being about mirages.
Within the first minute of the show, I was already mesmerised by the vice president, Kristie, who walked down the runway in a gold headpiece, accompanied by jewels resting on her shoulders and an intricately designed green corset. I knew from that moment Kiara and I were in for an amazing show.
The rest of the outfits that followed were both bold but still in uniform with the theme. The emphasis of accessories such as masks, jewellery, and lace within the clothing made the models’ outfits not only bold, but extremely aesthetically pleasing to look at. I could tell that UoN’s fashion society value attention to detail greatly, because each models’ outfit stood out to me in different ways.
As well as there being stylists, some models showed commitment to the show by even styling themselves. One of these models was Remi Kong, and when asking her what inspired her look apart from the theme, she said she wanted a look inspired by her South Asian heritage, so she borrowed a blouse from one of the committee members, and together they were able to create a modern take on traditional Indian attire, also adding jewellery such as bangles, a bindi and earrings. I found Remi’s final look to be such a creative take on the theme of “mirage” as she was able to celebrate her South Asian culture, and also honour it with a modern twist, creating an illusion of both the future and the past.
Overall, I believe that UoN’s fashion society has set the standard for the rest of the academic year. The production, music selection, and stylistic choices were all very pleasing, especially for someone like myself who’s relatively new to appreciating fashion. I think everyone should at least witness one UoN fashion show, so that they can see the creativity and hard work that the committee, the stylists and the models put into giving audiences such a great experience.