Carleton University’s Black Student Alliance (BSA) is set to host its first-ever fashion show on March 24. The event will be held in the Fenn Lounge in Teraanga Commons (formerly Residence Commons) at 6:30 p.m., and will showcase the evolution of Black fashion by decade, as well as traditional African, Caribbean and local Black fashion.
The fashion show is entirely led, modelled, styled and sponsored by students. What started as a brainstorming session for an end-of-term event snowballed into a big production.
Christie Charles, a third-year childhood and youth studies student and issues co-ordinator for the BSA said turning the BSA’s vision into reality was “a lot more work than anticipated,” with most days filled with meetings, phone calls and sorting out details.
“I’ve been working on this with my team every day since February,” she said. “When we started off, we sent out a Google Form just to gauge interest, then we had info sessions for the models. We had fitting sessions to narrow down our models and now we have finally started with the rehearsals.”
Models will wear clothing created by Carleton student designers, including the works of Belvue District, Distorted Paradise, Silence is Compliance, BA Customs and Indome.
Avery Paul Bent, a third-year criminology student, said he named his clothing brand Belvue District as an homage to his family in Jamaica, using a play on the French words “belle vue,” translating to “nice view.” This fashion show will be his first.
“A lot of Black creatives nowadays aren’t really showcased the way they should be,” he said. “This is a perfect environment; perfect place for it to happen.”
Subomi Akin-Abrahams, fourth-year psychology student and creator of Indome, will also be presenting his clothes for the first time. He named his brand after Indomie instant noodles, which he said brought him comfort when he was homesick and made him think of Nigeria, where he is from.
Akin-Abrahams said his target demographic is students, and he offers his customers a free pack of noodles with each purchase. His work will be featured in the 90s section of the fashion show.
“I’m just really trying to show the versatility of the 90s,” he said. “I feel that the 90s are dominated by hip hop culture—as they should be, but there [were] a lot of sub-genres that started and developed during that time. So, I’m trying to show an all-around look.”
The majority of sponsors, including Akin-Abrahams, started off selling clothing out of their dorm room or at Ottawa Fly Markets. Now, they have a platform to broadcast their work to the estimated minimum of 200 students who will be in attendance on Friday.
Advertised as the BSA’s “most anticipated event of the year,” students in attendance can also expect live performances from local Ottawa musicians NTHN and DJ Temi.
Charles said the fashion show will be an opportunity to “bring the community together and celebrate [Black] culture.”
“It’s so important because Black people are visionaries, Black people are powerful,” Akin-Abrahams added. “There’s so much talent right here not only in Ottawa, but in Carleton. We are spearheading the culture, so for people to get the opportunity to see it from its core, on a big scale, is very, very good.”
Featured image by Djeneba Dosso.
