A conversation with DW2012 Creative Director, Soukaina Ben Ali

Asking Soukaina Ben Ali to describe DW2012 in three words is like asking Carrie Bradshaw to pick a favourite pair of shoes. This year’s Creative Director for DONT WALK struggles to find the right words: “Natural…but that seems too…tied to the idea of nature.” or “Relaxed.” But that’s not right either – she eventually abandons her answer, shaking her head. “As soon as you define something, you limit it.”

And in many ways DONT WALK is difficult to define. How do you describe a student-run charity fashion show that embraces a student-run aesthetic, but at the same time raised £20,000 for charity last year? It’s definitely a fashion show, but one that gives its models a degree of creative freedom (both on and off the catwalk) you would never see in Paris or Milan. Models laugh as they strut down the runway, taking drinks from the audience, spontaneously breaking-it-down in 4-inch heels…

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Soukaina tells me as we sit in the Vic Cabin, “we never have.” Scattered around us are piles of jewelry and vintage clothing ­– materials for the DW launch party promo shoot Soukaina’s been working on. Having interned in the fashion industry, Soukaina loves the creative freedom of putting on a student-run fashion show. “This is our platform to make this show whatever we want,” she says, “and to not give in to convention.” 

On the whole, the DW committee are bringing new things to the entire process this year. DW2012 will be selling clothing online ­– a first for the show. Besides printed t-shirts, all the clothing for sale is vintage, in keeping with Soukaina’s vision: “For me, anything that we produce, the main point is that the experience comes through.” Selling clothes that are, themselves, ‘experienced’ goes along with the aesthetic used in the model introduction shoot, which debuted a couple weeks ago.

The concept for the model introduction shoot is an idea Soukaina got from her anthropology class, that an individual is not one coherent whole but multidimensional, thus behind every individual is ‘a community of selves’. To reflect this concept, DW broke with St Andrews fashion convention and used a series of photographs to introduce each model, each series chosen to showcase various facets of the model’s individual personality. For the shoot, Soukaina brought in Alena Jascanka, a young fashion photographer from London.

Alena first met and got to know the models during the shoot, an encounter Soukaina wanted the photographs to reflect – as Alena gets to know each model, photo by photo, so does the viewer. “We couldn’t be true to the idea of capturing an individual in their true essence without having multiple pictures,” Soukaina tells me, responding to criticisms that the series of photos got slightly repetitive. “Of course they’re similar, there is definitely an element of individual performance in everyday life and I liked that a few images were reflective of that.”

DW has been shooting exclusively in film thus far, a process Soukaina describes as “cutting a moment out of time.” She tells me about one such moment on the first shoot, when model Stephanie Pope was changing and a gust of wind blew her shirt up her back: “Looking at Steph, I thought to myself ‘that’d be a great picture’ and then I look over and Alena is snapping it.”

The aesthetic that comes with shooting in film is in keeping with the ‘alternative’ style often attributed to DW, and I ask Soukaina how much their NYC foundation has had an effect on her creative choices this year. Certain elements of NYC style stand out for her, like how it’s ‘constantly changing’. “What we’ve taken from it is the edge.” After some thought, she continues, “It’s in our roots, and we’ve grown from it.”

An emphasis on youth culture and style has definitely been characteristic of DW’s aesthetic in the past, something Soukaina would like to incorporate even more into this show than previous years. “It was apparent from the very beginning that we’d want to change the direction [of the show] this year. We’re a new committee and we want different things.”

So what are some of those things? “We’re trying to make this year’s show more cohesive than ever before. The show opening is going to be more theatrical.” In the past, the emphasis at DW shows has inevitably strayed from the catwalk onto the drunken antics of the crowd below. Soukaina wants to change that. “I want to make people want to watch the show.”

Soukaina hopes to achieve this through closer attention to the fashion, with the help of Antonia Tedroff and Josh Stowell. She picks up one of the items leftover from the launch party promo shoot: an intricate metal cuff from an Egyptian jeweler Azza Fahmy (who is hopefully donating more pieces for the show). “It’s great to have big names, but the main thing is to showcase pieces that are spectacular and unique.” She tells me that this, combined with the other new additions to DW2012, will force the crowd to pay more attention to the performance on the catwalk and, hopefully, less time getting hammered – at least until the afterparty.

Tickets to the afterparty are open to all, but the show itself has always been an invitation-only event – often prompting declarations that DW is ‘elitist’. “It’s not because we think we’re really important, but because it’s an intimate show,” Soukaina insists. “It makes each audience member more than the price of their ticket.”

As for my three words to describe DW, I’ll admit, I’m just as stuck as Soukaina. In many ways the entity of DW is comprised of its own ‘community of selves’. But after my chat with Soukaina, I think I can decide on at least one of my words: personal. Every part of DW’s creative approach this year has come from a personal, intimate place, and for each St Andrean it has prompted an individual, personal response.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the show.

The DW2012 launch party is Friday, December 9 at the Victoria Café. Standard tickets are £10, £18 for VIP. Tickets are for sale December 5, 1:00-4:00pm.

Written by Adelaide Waldrop, standout editor

Photos © Celeste Sloman