On March 19, the Wilfrid Laurier University Fashion and Lifestyle Society hosted its seventh annual Answer to Cancer Fashion Show in support of The Canadian Cancer Society.
The Turret was transformed into a runway show with tickets available for purchase, catering was provided, as well as a silent auction with thousands of dollars in potential prizes.
Community partners donated clothing for the runway show and silent auction prizes.
Meg Kay, president of WLUFLS, explained how this annual show brings the community together for a good cause.
“We’ve always been a fashion club and every year since the beginning we’ve been doing a fashion show to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society,” Kay said.
“[The fashion show is] a new fun thing that no one really does. It’s not just another bake sale in the Concourse — it’s something innovative and different.”
The aim of the event is to get venders to contribute clothing for the models to showcase.
This allows for additional community engagement and free publicity of their businesses.
“We get a lot of local businesses involved and they’re featured in our show, which they donate so generously,” Kay said.
“A lot of local businesses have a connection to cancer, so they’re willing to help and we couldn’t do it all by ourselves.”
It’s not just another bake sale in the Concourse — it’s something innovative and different.
“The biggest thing we do is use all local conveners and we really depend on the student body. All of the models featured in our show are Laurier students [and] we’re really dependent on them and without them this show wouldn’t happen,” she explained.
This community effort has allowed for a lot of growth over the years, one of the major changes that WLUFLS implemented this year was having the event on campus in the Turret.
In previous years, the event was held at Beta Nightclub.
However, the venue closed earlier this year.
In the end, having the event at Turret was more beneficial for the club in the long-run because of the additional funds that were saved by switching to the campus venue.
“Before it used to be $2,400 to rent out Beta and it’s $700 for Turret. We can grow more, we can have better decorations, we can have better promo and we’ve started printing posters,” Kay said.
In addition to their financial success, WLUFLS has also added an additional event that they hosted for the Laurier community Industry Night. Industry Night was hosted by WLUFLS to have a meet-and-greet with fashion bloggers, boutique owners and models.
“We’ve received special funding from the Students’ Union to pay for Industry Night and because it’s a new event and went so successfully — 40-50 people showed up, which is a lot higher than expected.”
“We’d like to continue Industry Night moving forward.”
Kay also explained that although the club’s membership changes yearly, there is a culture with WLUFLS that keeps members wanting to get more involved.
“[WLUFLS] have had basically all new models this year because many people graduated. Last year and a lot of members from previous years are now president and other executives. Membership is a big thing that has changed this year and continues to change yearly.”