Around the world in 80 garments

What cultural item requires no language, can be easily accessed and comes with fun to spare?

Clothes. Lots of clothes.

The International Development Education and Awareness Society (IDEAS) will be hosting Fashion Without Borders on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Grawood. It will be the first international fashion show at Dal, combining cultural awareness, charity and music.

Twenty volunteer models, mostly international students, will strut down the runway. The show will cover fashions from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South and North America. It will open with a drum circle from Dal Drum and a live art demonstration.

“People usually make a general comment about how pretty clothes are but don’t ask the right questions,” says Andrea Landriault, external coordinator of IDEAS. “We want people to learn about the culture behind the clothes.”

Outfits range from Scottish tartans to Indian Sherwani and colourful patterned African dresses. Clothes were donated from students and faculty.

Reaching out to the community

Ms. Landriault came up with the idea for the fashion show based on her past experience. She worked as volunteer global education coordinator at the International House residence at the University of Alberta when she decided to plan a fashion show to educate people about Diwali.

“There were more people from the community than students there,” says Ms. Landriault. “I thought the show could be a good way to reach out to the community.”

IDEAS is the major student society for the International Development Studies (IDS) department. This year the executive is hoping to expand beyond the IDS crowd, and have involved twelve other student societies in this event.

“We wanted to do something high profile and positive,” says Ms. Landriault, a fourth-year student in IDS. “We thought it would be a good opportunity to interact with other students.”

Proceeds to charity

The event also features a “charity cover” model. Students can choose to donate their ticket amount to one of four charities: World University Service of Canada, Invisible Children Fund, Giving Voice to Hope and Amnesty International. At the event itself, each charity will give a five-minute speech on how the funds will be spent.

“It can be depressing to learn about the problems of the world,” says Ms. Landriault. “This is something positive that we can do. We want to show the diversity of our community.”

Tickets for the event are $7 advance and $10 at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Advance tickets can be purchased at the IDS office on the third floor of the Henry Hicks building.