Every February the world’s catwalks fill with the best and the brightest that fashion has to offer, from Paris to New York, from London… to Glasgow?
Earlier this month, The Glasgow Charity Fashion Show celebrated its tenth anniversary in glittering style at The Old Fruitmarket. Themed around the idea of ‘Dreams’, the night took its audience on an ethereal journey through 27 independent designers’ collections; Hopping from gauzy day-dreams, to surreal, dark visions. As president Mia Hardie describes, the night and its collections ‘encompassed the tension between the collective desire to embrace the future and our fear of what it may hold’, combining the styles of the past with the newest trends, and setting some new ones in the process.
The variety in styles and expressions, from high-end tailoring to hand-worked crochet, would be astonishing for any show let alone a student-run enterprise, but the GCFS takes all of it in their stride. The society is made up of a 77 person strong committee who help bring the show to life, with this anniversary night at the Fruitmarket marking their biggest enterprise yet. From the designers and their infallible models, to the large committee working behind the scenes, the event is a team effort in the truest sense. Despite the scale of the effort, the GCFS is a night run with straight-stitch precision; The professionalism of the event a testament to Hardie and her team’s dedication.
Though each collection was decidedly unique, there were some fantastic recurring themes scattered throughout the night. There were delicate references to historical dress in Through Cats Eyes’ crimson satin stays, Misty Turnbull’s modern, pastel medievalism and Yoshie Sawabe’s elevated take on historic menswear. We saw distinctive takes on the Y2K and coquette trends in the pop-icon fantasy created by Erin Biernat and a dreamy pearl-clad collection by Chillest Ambrosia, and the auroral, mesh colourscapes from Lucia Guedan and Lily Grace Designs looked ready for the racks of this season. The show’s recent rebrand away from the Glasgow University Fashion Show now means the society involves students from across the city’s universities, and this proudly Glaswegian heart is clear to see. Far from kitsch tartanry, Scottish identity was subtly referenced in Faye Baxter’s thistle appliques and Cairistiona Fletcher’s strange, surreal blending of stag-horn headpieces with earth toned Westwood-esque tweeds. A personal standout collection came from Isobel Bagshaw’s and their Gieger-like work, using draped cottons and boucles to create fantastical organic forms. My only hope is that someone can find Bagshaw’s collection before the next ‘Dune’ press tour…
As the name suggests, the society’s charity affiliations are the soul of the show. Proudly the largest student fundraiser in Glasgow, the GCFS raised £44,005 for Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis last year alone, and 2024’s charitable partner is Impact Arts- a Glasgow based charity who focus on creative engagement for under-represented and vulnerable people of all ages. As Hardie describes, the GCFS team cherish the amazing effect donations of this size have on so many of their small Glasgow-based charities and how raising awareness and funds for them can be vital in the post-pandemic climate where so much is uncertain and more turn towards these charitable causes. The show’s finale was a touching conclusion that summed up ‘the perseverance of Impact Arts’ and the story carefully curated by the team. The final two dresses used fabric illustrated with a gallery of faces. These illustrations had been drawn by a woman with dementia who used all the faces she could remember for the design. In a night that transported its audience to the most fantastical, far-stretches of the imagination, this final moment of delicate reality marked a beautiful and memorable end.
In a tumultuous era for fashion, defined by mass consumption and never-ending trend cycles, the GCFS feels like a welcome antidote. There’s no sense of gatekeeping or pretentiousness at the show, and no sense that the audience need any knowledge of this season’s catwalks to appreciate the designs. The night is an open invitation for anyone and everyone to feel as excited about fashion as everyone in the society does, and the energy is infectious. Being stood just metres away from the catwalk, close enough to see every stitch and fibre that goes into each and every article of clothing, it’s hard not to think about the love, time and skill in each of these beautiful pieces- and perhaps consider why we don’t think about our own wardrobe like that a little more often.
The GCFS foray into ‘Dreams’ was an inspiring, ethereal and touching showcase, and a perfect way to celebrate a decade of dedicated charity fundraising and creativity. I can’t wait to see what the next ten years might hold.
With thanks to Mia Hardie and the entire GCFS team.
More information about Impact Arts and the work they do can be found here:
By Tilly Holt [she/her]
qmunicatemagazine.co.uk 