St Andrew's Charity Fashion Show
Every year since 1991, students at the University of St Andrew's have hosted the largest and most successful student-run catwalk show in the UK. Impressively, they have raised over £330,000 for various charities since their foundation 22 years ago.
This year, on Saturday 15 February, 1,500 guests will attend the annual event, which is to be held in a marquee on the Lower College Lawn (part of the university campus). As well as raising money for charitable causes, the FS2014 also aims to showcase their pick of the best labels out there. This year’s creative theme is The Bright Young Things, inspired by the literary work of Evelyn Waugh. The Bright Young Things were a “community of impulse,” a social group in 1920s London made up of bohemian, eclectic and young socialites who were famous for throwing and attending lavish parties and inspiring many writers and photographers of their period. So with this in mind, expect to see the work of some extremely talented up and coming designers showing alongside established international brands like Hackett, Topman and Hentsch Man.
As we are also passionate about local and independent design talent ourselves, we are very excited to see some Skinny favourites (who definitely qualify as Bright Young Things) on the billing: The Scottish Style Awards Womenswear Designer of the Year, Judy R Clark, both Saunt & Sinner and Rebecca Torres, nominees for the Best Young Designer award of 2013 from the Scottish Fashion Awards, and Dundee-based Hayley Scanlan, winner of the Young Designer of the Year Award 2012 at the Scottish Fashion Awards. And if that wasn't enough, also taking part is the fantastic Glasgow-based label Naromode, whose new collection has been causing a stir amongst Scottish fashion fans.
Interestingly, the organisation runs its own Young Designer Award (which is now in its fourth year) where hopefuls from around the UK submit their ideas for a collection based on the current creative theme, which are then judged by a panel. Five finalists will make and then showcase their collections on the night, after which a winner will be selected. The contenders for this year's prize of £1,000 are Manchester School of Art graduate Olivia Peszynski, University of Derby students Jos Swinnerton and Lyndsay Hazelwood, Coleg Sir Gar (in Wales) student Nicole Hurran and De Montfort University graduate Louise Watson.
This year, the FS2014 event will be raising money for the Association for International Cancer Research, which has its head office in St Andrews and funds research projects worldwide. The show organisers hope to build on the (pretty remarkable) 2013 donation of £27,500.
Tickets for the event cost £70 each (or £90 for VIP) and were sold in November via a ballot due to the high demand. However, tickets to the afterparty will be released in early February so watch the FS2014 social media channels for more information.