The Culture Couture fashion show was held in the Stotler Lounge of Memorial Union on Oct. 3. The show featured 11 models and 12 different outfits from all over the world. Alexis Currie, MU graduate student and MC of the event, is proud of the intention of Culture Couture.
“The purpose of this event is to display different wears from different cultures,” Currie said. “This show also features the intersectionality and the spectrum of wear that affects different people’s identities on campus.”
The event kicked off with seniors Dynasty Avila and Alex Carranza advertising the Multicultural Center as home to various different organizations and and is open to everyone. The mic was then handed off to Currie, who began to introduce the models. The energy of the show was kept fun and casual, unlike your typical fashion show, as sophomore Ray Waidmann noted.
“I attended this event for Citizenship@Mizzou, expecting it to be this hoity-toity thing,” Waidmann said. “But the models and [Currie] made it entertaining and funny with dancing, a little bit of comedy and by not taking themselves too seriously.”
The show featured clothes from all over the world and displayed outfits for formal and casual occasions. Each model represented a different organization, and he or she would come out, explain what organization they were a part of, what they were wearing and what culture it came from. Senior Alice Yu wore a red qípáo dress that she explained was originally for men, but has changed a lot over generations to now be for women.
“This is my third year participating in this show,” Yu said. “I’ve been doing it ever since I was a freshman. I think it’s very important to bring parts of different cultures to Missouri considering we are very landlocked, and sometimes the lack of information is not the people’s fault.”
Even though this was a Citizenship@Mizzou event, there were still many students in attendance who were there for fun, to support their friends who were in the show or to learn more about other cultures. One of those students was senior Ben Schnelle.
“I think events like this are extremely important because they allow students to have space for themselves and their culture, and that’s not always readily available,” Schnelle said. “I’m thankful that Mizzou has events like this and I try to do what I can to support them because there is a lot that we can all learn in order to support our fellow students.”
_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_
