Fashion Show Review

Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in a little rut of your own wardrobe, but fashion is not restricted to your daily wear. Instead it is something that varies throughout different cultures acting as a reflection of tradition, celebration and homelands. However, we never get to really see these other looks. Cue the iFashion Show. As part of the iFestival, we were given a taste of what we never normally get, so the models opened up their wardrobes and “represented their own countries of origin”. Thank you models!

Now, I always find it weird being in Rubix on non-Citrus/Flirt events but the conversion from club to catwalk was successful; I didn’t once have the feeling that I was too sober! The music and the coloured lights, not to mention the paper decorations, created a sense of anticipation and excitement as we waited for the show to start, and your favourite student newspaper was placed on seats to amuse during the wait. AH MY GOD THE LIGHTS ARE DIMMING. The show was about to start, and the wonderful Bakita ‘Masala’ Kasadha and Lorna Salmon were there to host us and provide quirky little facts for each country (I do love a good fact).

First, we were taken to South America. The clothes were full of vibrant colours; Brazil had carnival style, Caribbean used a colour scheme of the national flag and Trinidad and Tobago rounded up the continent’s section with some original dancing and flag-wearing.

Next up was Europe, with the UK kicking things off punk style. Host Lorna whipped off her trench coat, revealing a Sex Pistols top. Turkey then had her turn on the catwalk in a traditional belly-dancing and a lot of hip waggling (I’ve tried it in my room, but for me it’s more of a “oh no I knocked my cup of tea over” than sexy). Spain had such a cool dress! Colour coordination of yellow and purple with a lot of skirt flicking created a fierce but fun, traditional look, a contrast to France who presented us with a sweet stripped dress, an elegant outfit accompanied by some very elegant ballet (I haven’t tried that dance yet).

The Third continent was Asia, starting with Japan and a geisha in a lovely pink and purple outfit, blowing little paper petal-y things that made me blink a lot. Nepal then took its turn and gave us 10 looks! There was a floral skirt which was beautiful, and it was interesting to see a range of outfits from one culture. Also, to the Nepal female models, I absolutely loved your shoes. Pakistan and India showed us some of their traditional outfits to finish the penultimate continent off, and once again we saw colour and sparkly bits that make you go “oooh”.

Then, we saw Africa’s style through Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda. Mauritius wore a brightly patterned dress, which host Bakita described as “beautiful”. Mozambique and Nigeria also gave us some awesome patterns, and some even better dancing, before Bakita modelled a lush dress for Uganda.

Finally, a statue of Liberty walked a lap of the catwalk, followed by the other models all dancing away. I normally hate audience participation, but there was so much life and excitement going on onstage that even I waved my American flag.

So the iFashion show was a success. It was a chance to experience styles from around the globe and learn some useless facts. My favourites? Lorna’s trench coat and Nepal’s looks. But I also learnt not to belly dance. Ever.