Fashion week is coming to Northwestern.
The creative students behind the annual Unity Charity Fashion Show have put together a series of events for the week leading up to their big night, April 21. Starting April 15, fashion week will include a clothing drive, a private shopping party, and a Rock Walk off.
The students behind the 5th Annual Unity Charity Fashion Show have been working tirelessly all winter to bring quality fashion to the Northwestern and Evanston communities. With only 17 days left to plan, Unity members are busy training their models, getting sponsorships from retailers and designing their show. The show is entirely put together by students, including student models and some student designers.
“There are bigger and better things this year, and we’re really focusing on quality of the show,” said Emerly Soong, president of Unity and executive producer of the fashion show.
But the show is not just about great-looking clothing. The Weinberg junior emphasized that Unity’s goal is to promote diversity.
“It is about fashion, and my philosophy with fashion is that there’s no right style. It’s embracing your inner self, and it’s projecting yourself through what you wear,” Soong said. “There’s no right or wrong answers.”
In addition to local and big-name retailers, the show will feature traditional clothing from various cultural traditions. Unity is able to accomplish this feat because of its 15 co-sponsors: student-interest and cultural groups such as STITCH and Alianza who help support and plan the event.
And the planning that goes into this show is extensive. Unity is split up into six committees who handle everything from the event’s social media, to designing the sound and light, to procuring sponsorship from retailers, to training the models.
Annie Hayford, one of the junior head models, said that this show is very fitting for Unity.
“Clothes can bring people together,” the Communication senior said. As a model, “you bring energy and excitement and fun and you’re bringing awareness to a cause.”
Communication sophomore and Twitter Head for Unity’s marketing committee, Lucia Radder,said she has been really impressed by what the students in Unity have accomplished.
“It’s cool to see how all these students are coming together and doing it all,” Radder said.
The fashion show is philanthropic in purpose. Each year, Unity chooses an organization and all of the proceeds from the show go towards that organization. This year’s nonprofit is the Playing for Change Foundation, an international organization that helps communities in need through music, started by an NU alumna.
Although Unity’s show focuses on diversity, their goal is also to bring students together.
“I think that fashion is really representative of a person and a person’s culture,” Radder said. “It’s diversifying but also unifying.”
–Simone Alicea
