University fashion show teams with mental health charity

The annual St Andrews Charity Fashion Show (FS) has announced that it will be teaming up with mental health charity SANE.

Taking place every February, the fashion show can host up to 1,500 guests and feature a range of fashion designers from across the UK.

The aim is to nurture young British talent through the Young Designer Award (YDA), while celebrating well-established brands on the runway.

YDA is a nation-wide talent search for the best and brightest upcoming British designers. Five finalists are chosen to complete a five-piece collection in ten weeks based on the FS2016 creative theme “BARE”; a judging panel of industry experts and fashion journalists chooses the winner in January, before all the finalists’ collections are shown on our catwalk in February, in front of international press such as Vogue, Tatler and The New York Times.

YDA is an incredible opportunity for young designers to nurture their creativity, skill and drive, while gaining exposure to the competitive fashion industry. Just as FS have partnered with SANE Mental Health Charity to strip mental health bare of stigma, they too will bare their raw talent to the fashion world and in doing so, help make it a platform for change.

The charity fashion show has garnered attention from publications including The New York Times, British Vogue and Tatler.

Since it’s foundation in 1992, St Andrews Charity Fashion Show has raised over £430,000 for a range of different charities, including a record breaking £39,00 donation to It’s Good 2 Give last year. This year their charitable partner is SANE, a UK based mental health charity that works to remove the stigma so often associated with mental health. All profits generated by both Starfields - the launch party - and the main show itself, which takes place in February, will be donated to SANE.

Oscar Macdonald, Director of the Fashion Show, said: “We at FS are thrilled to be partnering with SANE this year. Mental health is something which affects a huge number of university students, but most are afraid to talk about it. The work SANE does to remove the stigma associated with mental health is so relevant to the student community, not only here in St Andrews but all over the UK.

“We hope to not only make a substantial donation, but to take the issue of mental health out of the shadows, and bring it out into the open.”

St Andrews Charity Fashion Show held their annual launch party, Starfields, on Thursday 10th September. The music festival style event was attended by 2,200 students, making it the biggest event ever held in St Andrews. Previous years have seen performances from The View, Neon Jungle and Nick Grimshaw, but this year’s international lineup was the most impressive yet. With Klingande, producer of the worldwide hit ‘Jubel’, as the headlining act, and DJ sets from other big names such as Alex Adair, Lexer, Nora En Pure, and Joe Jones, this was a student event like no other.