Welcome to utopia: Everything you need to know about DUCFS 2025

A permanent highlight of the Durham social calendar, The Durham University Charity Fashion Show (DUCFS) is back.  Founded all the way back in 1983, DUCFS celebrates its 42nd birthday this year, as it continues to cement its position as the largest student-led charity fashion show in Europe. Charity is a very significant priority for the show – last year, DUCFS raised £230,000 for Campaign Against Living Miserably, and over £1,000,000 has been raised throughout the past six years combined. Eliza Herzog, DUCFS 2025 president, confirmed that the show will be partnering with Macmillan Cancer Support for charity, intending to fund a psychologist and assistant psychologist for two years in the nearby County Durham and Darlington hospital.

Utopia is 2025’s theme. Asked about the creative vision surrounding this, Eliza told The Tab: “Our creative vision for this year is Welcome to Utopia.

“We dive into a realm filled with endless possibilities – a realm where all our fantasies will come alive.

We will be bringing this vision to life through our creative shoots, music, choreography, and carefully sourced fashion for the show.”

Despite Durham students flocking without fail to DUCFS every year, with the four nights in the 1,000 capacity Sunderland Live Arena (previously Rainton Arena) equating to about 20 per cent of Durham students attending, most students have no idea how much hard work goes into the show behind the scenes. Models don’t just rock up to the stage in some clothes for a booze-fuelled and fun-driven night, ten months of preparation goes on from the May of the calendar year prior. It is also completely student-led. DUCFS has 44 executive committee members who balance the considerable production of the event with the difficulty of a full-time Durham degree.

Neither do brand deals just magically appear – this summer, the partnerships team has been contacting hundreds of companies, and after some hard graft secured a partnership with Budweiser Brewing Group. In the past, DUCFS have teamed up with brands such as Uniqlo, PepsiCo and TeachFirst. The fashion team went down to London in June 2024 for Graduate Fashion Week, in order to secure designer contacts, whilst the events team have secured strong events throughout the calendar, booking almost one a week for Michaelmas term. The marketing team have also been busy at work designing physical posters, phone backers and key rings to prepare for the upcoming surge.

How can I get involved?

Model auditions will be held in the next few weeks, with one set taking place from 26th-27th October, and another from 2nd-3rd November at Elvet Riverside. Eliza told The Tab: “Absolutely no requirements to audition, anyone can come along – we want it to be a welcoming, supportive and inclusive environment”. Tickets for the show are due to be released towards the end of November.

If modelling is not for you, there are other ways to get involved. One of the most prominent methods is to attend the numerous events put on by DUCFS throughout the year; in the past week, the show teamed up with DURFC for a huge charity rugby match and also put on a boozy beading event. Coming up soon is the big launch party club night, on Saturday 19th October – expect it to be one of the biggest and best nights out of the term.

DUCFS Launchpad

Launchpad is DUCFS’ independent outreach platform, targeted at helping local communities in the creative sector. The three pillars it works closest on are creative arts, music and community – connecting creatives with the area is something truly at the heart of DUCFS.

Currently, launchpad is supporting three projects: Durham for Refugees x City of Sanctuary, RTProjects and DJ School Project. Rumour is that a local fourth project is also soon to be announced for a charitable cause.

Durham for Refugees is a student outreach project which supports the weekly Durham City of Sanctuary drop-in session for local refugee families, providing an invaluable lifeline for the families: the kids take part in activities, games and take part in tutoring services run by student volunteers, and many of the parents also attend conversation classes to improve their English reading and speaking skills.

Launchpad funds additional sessions of RTProject’s mental health support initiative Open Art Surgery in the Gilesgate area of north-east Durham each week to reach more participants. The third initiative, DJ School Project, ran in partnership with local, student-led, events company Rotate, works with the local Durham Youth Clubs, giving them a chance to learn new music skills they would otherwise not have access to.

DUCFS Thread

Thread is DUCFS’ “sister programme”, working to provide a space for artists and creatives. Thread produce large physical magazines that cover fashion in Durham and beyond, with the most recent edition discussing topics ranging from the Era tour to reflections on DUCFS shows of yesteryear.

A podcast, ThreadCAST, is set to be releasing soon.

Images via DUCFS

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