More than what we wear
UTM’s Fashion & Modelling Society prepares to bring personal style, culture, and creative expression to the runway.

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Everyone gets dressed in the morning. Whether it’s an hour-long planned outfit or a last-second throw of clothes, what we wear reveals much about us.

For University of Toronto Mississauga’s newly formed Fashion & Modelling Society (UTMFMS), fashion is not only about the clothes someone wears. It is also about the stories people can tell through them.

“Our main goal is to bring together a community of people interested in the industry of fashion,” said Mikail, president and co-founder of UTMFMS. The club wants its members to develop their understanding of fashion and recognize “how it’s not just about the clothes, but the story behind them.”

The club is now working on its “flagship event,” a runway show that will bring together different areas of fashion, modelling, styling, and production. Rather than using the runway to showcase one brand’s work, UTMFMS plans to use it to demonstrate different styling approaches.

“Usually when people hear runway shows, [they think] it’s about one brand showing off the newest clothing piece,” explained Mikail. “[Instead] we’re gonna show off our ability to style models in many, many different ways.”

The idea for the club began with a conversation between Mikail and his friend Sohan, the club’s co-founder. The two were sitting at Square One when Sohan brought up his interest in starting a club, though he did not yet know its focus. At the time, some modelling agencies had approached Mikail about modelling for them. With modelling already on his mind, he suggested combining fashion and modelling for the club, and “it took off from there!”

The runway project grew out of the founders’ desire to bring together different interests within the fashion industry into a single event. Members interested in clothing, styling, and creating their own designs can contribute, while those interested in production can work with videography, photography, lighting, and staging. Rather than building the entire runway around a single aesthetic, UTMFMS currently plans to divide the show into distinct segments.

“I guess if you want, the theme could be inclusivity,” said Mikail. “Our goal is to address everyone’s interest, everyone’s passion and style.” The club also plans to consider how culture, geographical location, time periods, and gender can influence fashion.

UTMFMS members will also have a role in determining what eventually reaches the runway. During biweekly meetings, members are encouraged to present something that interests them about fashion. It might be the history of a brand, a particular style, or a shoe. The executive team then takes note of those interests and considers how to incorporate them into the show.

“We’re going to try and address the inclusivity by making sure we always hear our club members’ voices first,” Mikail added. Behind the runway, the project also requires the team to consider the show’s size and location, audience, staging, lighting, clothing, and production. The club plans to organize workshops for students interested in modelling, where they can practise walking, posing, and using facial expressions on the runway.

For a new club with many ideas, Mikail says one of the biggest challenges has been “knowing our limits.” He went on to say that “we’re a brand new club this year, and we only have so many people, but we have a lot of ideas. Fashion is subjective. It’s limitless. We could do a million different things.”

The amount of student interest has also surprised the club. According to Mikail, the team initially expected around 20 to 30 sign-ups after its second week. At the time of the interview, the bumper had grown to just over 60.

Mikail also hopes to contribute his own creative work to the runway. Although the exact outfits for the show have not yet been finalized, he says he is particularly interested in vintage and dressier styles. He hopes to incorporate ideas inspired by Yves Saint Laurent. He may also walk in the show himself, wearing one of his own designs.

“I wouldn’t be satisfied just showing up on stage and wearing something that can be put into a box,” he mentioned. “So I’d create my own style, and I would, yeah, I’d walk that.”

Still in the early stages of designing, Mikail describes the direction of his work as “elegant, flowy, and androgynous.” For the runway itself, he hopes audience members leave having discovered something they had not considered before.

“Hopefully we’ll get a lot of people who aren’t 100 percent solidified in what style they like to wear, and they’ll see something on stage that really speaks to them,” he said. “Maybe they can find their style.”

And even for someone who already feels confident in the way they dress, encountering something different would be enough.

“If they think it looks good,” Mikail said, “I’ll feel accomplished then, too.”

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