A runway to remember: Northumbria University Fashion Show raises £7,637 for charity

Northumbria University hosted its 2026 fashion show on Monday 9^th February, raising £7,637 for The OddBalls Foundation and Let’s Get Our Knickers in a Twist (LGOKIAT).

The Vice President, Jessica Haslam, chose this year’s charities to spotlight the important issues she feels are overlooked, such as pant poverty. LGOKIAT is a non-profit organisation providing women facing poverty, displacement or crisis with clean underwear and support. The OddBalls Foundation is the UK’s leading charity raising awareness of testicular cancer.

The show was hosted by Harvey Burn and Chris Shaw, with a raffle running throughout the night. Prizes were gifted by The OddBalls Foundation, StageOne Events, Treb, The Biscuit Factory, The Groovement and The Wilder Group.

This year, Northumbria University Fashion Show (NUFS) partnered up with Wilder Fashion Show, the UK and Ireland’s biggest student-led fashion fundraiser, to make the event bigger than ever.

The dress code was masquerade ball, with guests asked to dress to impress in black tie, gold, silver and black, and most importantly, masks.

The 2025/26 president of NUFS, Mya Bickers Brown, said: “Our society has come a long, long way since it started in 2024.

“Emily Sutton proposed the idea of a fashion show to myself and one of my housemates and we started working on it not realising it would be such a huge and successful thing and such a big part of our university experience.”

Over 550 people attended this year ,which is a huge improvement from the last two years. Mya said: “the crowd was the loudest we’ve ever had and they were so, so supportive”.

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Alice Dunn is the 2025/26 show director of NUFS. She was responsible for liaising with brands to secure their involvement in the show, and coordinating the event. She styled outfits for each walk and led rehearsals alongside the rest of the committee members, choreographing the show to create an exciting performance.

Alice said: “Although the events leading up to the show were intense, seeing the full concept come to life was incredibly rewarding.”

Multiple societies across Northumbria took part in the fashion show, including Northumbria Men’s Rugby Union, who modelled OddBalls pants and took on the runway in style.

Just hours before the show was due to start, one of the rugby team fell ill and had to pull out. But, as they say in show biz, the show must go on. A friend of one of the players, who came to watch, filled in last minute. He learnt the routine an hour before the show started and performed alongside his best mate.

This encapsulates the atmosphere of the show, as everyone pulled together to raise a significant amount of money for charity and create a brilliant performance for the audience.

Alice said it was her second year in the show’s director role, but this year specifically was “an empowering and unforgettable experience because the energy on the night was unmatched, and the audience’s reaction made all the hard work worthwhile”.

Over three shows, the society has raised over £18,500 for some amazing charities and continues to grow. The first show, in 2024, raised £3,300 for YoungMinds. In 2025, they more than doubled this total, bringing in £7,500 for Breast Cancer Now and The OddBalls Foundation.

Mya said: “We’re so grateful for everyone who believed in us at the very beginning, as the show wouldn’t be what it was now if it wasn’t for them.”