Corporate gone creative: A look inside LSE’s recent fashion show

A fashion show at LSE – isn’t that something you never thought you’d hear?

The LSESU Raising and Giving Society recently hosted a Charity Fashion Show for the second year in a row to help raise money for their three elected charity partners: Fat Macy’s UK, Stonewall and Safe Passage.

And, while we all love an event with a charitable cause anyway, this LSE fashion show was a genuinely enjoyable event that showcased the usually overlooked creative student community within the uni.

Due to its huge success last year, this year’s fashion show sold over 420 tickets and was hosted in two spaces simultaneously: the Marshall Building and the Venue in the Student Union Building.

Both venues had good ambience – the lighting cast a subtle glow over the catwalk, and the excitement of the audience waiting to watch their peers model was palpable.

For those of you unfortunate enough to have missed the show, here’s a breakdown of the most memorable moments:

Setting the scene

Backstage, energy was sky-high, albeit a bit hectic. The make-up and stylist teams were busy rushing around, perfecting the final touches to ensure the models would look their best in front of what felt like the entire LSE cohort – the pressure was pretty high.

Whilst nervous about the mugshots their friends would undoubtedly take during the show, the models backstage were excited to walk down the catwalk and basically cosplay as Kendall Jenner for a few minutes.

Themed Rounds

The show was separated into four themes: Forest, ocean, city and divine.

With aims to promote sustainability, the models were styled in clothes and accessories either they or someone else on the team already had in their closet. Some components of the outfits went one step further, actually featuring sustainable practices that really emphasised messages about environmental issues. For example, the incorporation of a fishing net in one of the ocean themed outfits addressed the issue of plastic in the ocean and its threat to marine life.

The forest theme definitely stood out as a highlight – considering that LSE students aren’t exactly known for their fashion sense, the fact that the creative team went more for a Y2K aesthetic (rather than dressing their models up as trees) was fairly surprising.

The make-up featured some playful elements of the noughties aesthetic, with glittery eyeshadow and a shimmery finish to pull together a more futuristic look.

The city theme also featured some chic Gossip Girl inspired outfits.

Models were styled in contrasting fabrics, creating a perfectly multidimensional and “effortlessly elegant” look – did Serena van der Woodsen drop out of Columbia and transfer to LSE?

LSESU Pole Fitness Club turned up

A special shout-out to the LSESU Pole Fitness Club, who pulled off some very impressive moves during the show and in between breaks to keep the audience entertained while the models made their way between the two venues.

Cultural Societies Round

The last themed round featured representatives from LSE’s cultural societies –  like the India Society, African Caribbean Society, Malaysia Club, and more – with an aim to embrace and celebrate the cultural diversity of the uni’s student community through traditional clothing.

‘The People’s Runway’

Last but not least, volunteers from the audience were invited to walk down the runway in what they called “the People’s Round.”

With the “dress to impress” dress code, the crowd’s fun outfits and accessories definitely lived up to the name of the round, reflecting LSE students’ hidden sense of fashion.

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