FLS fall fashion show rises | Culture

What better way to confront the unknown than to have it strut in front of you?

This year’s Fashion and Lifestyle Society fall fashion show was themed “Revelations.” Chelsea Ngungu, the fashion show’s creative director and Gazette video producer, shared with the crowd that the idea came to her when she joined the club a couple of years ago, starting as a distant and abstract concept. 

“Over the years, seeing the existential dread and the fear for the future of society, my theme began to change,” said Ngungu in her opening speech. 

Aiming to play into the fear, she said each act was meant to display a “whimsical interpretation.”

“It seems as if these days, everybody is waiting for the world to end,” said Ngungu. “I decided to take these cultural collective fears and make them into something fun and playful, something that inspires hope and creativity, opposed to anxiety and worry.”

Mahara Remtula, a fourth-year health sciences and Ivey Business School student, came to the show because her roommate will be modelling for their magazine next semester. 

“I’ve never been to an FLS fashion show, so I was like, ‘duh, I have to come,’” said Remtula. 

The audience took their seats to a soundtrack of pop and house music, everyone dressing up in their layered best, and the show began. 

The first act was centered around the rise of artificial intelligence. Models confidently crossed the runway dressed in an electronic, galactic style for a crowd of about 100 attendees. 

Looks ranged from small details, like a ribbon of earbuds in a model’s half-up-half-down hairdo, to more extravagant appearances, like an entire side profile of grey glitter. This cemented the executive’s intention for the first act: to convey the literal integration of technology into our lives. 

Ngungu said the second act symbolized extraterrestrials in cosmic curiosity, an intensely colourful display.

With rainbow face paint, stripes and tutus, these costumes felt like a retaliation against the robotic tendencies of the first act. Especially with the pressure of the rise of AI, the model’s cheerfulness in the second act set a different tone.

Vivian Shen, a fifth-year political science and Ivey student was the head of womenswear styling. Shen was content with how everything came together, from conception to the night of the show.

“Chelsea’s vision was something that was really instrumental for us. She had a very clear idea,” said Shen. “I was really proud of how my stylists were able to interpret everything … and the models work beautifully.”

Ngungu said the final act was meant to represent a religious, biblical depiction of the end of times in her speech to the crowd. 

A nearly perfect pattern of alternating between black and white outfits, the creativity was not at all caged by the exclusion of colour. 

Looks were a mix between black feathers, devil and angel wings and contrasting bridal fits.

Avery Ketelaars, a first-year media and communications studies student and creative director for FLS’s Volta Magazine, was a huge fan of the show. 

“The models were great. I think that they designed the runway really well, and the music was really on point. It was just really well thought out,” said Ketelaars. 

One of the models described was Aarushi Gupta, a third-year studio art student and president of FLS’s first show, in her role. 

“It’s amazing to be a part of it at this level, and I’m very proud of all the work that we created,” said Gupta. “The show is such a collaborative effort from everyone on our team, from the creative to administrative departments, and it’s so beautiful watching everything come together on such a lovely night.”

Editor’s Note: Chelsea Ngungu is a video producer at the Gazette. Chelsea did not participate in the pitching, assigning or editing processes of this story.