30 April 2009
Fashion students impress River Island
Industry bosses to judge fashion show
Nine second year BA (Hons) Fashion students have organised a one-off event - BEATMODE - to showcase the city’s up and coming creative talent.
BEATMODE is the student’s entry to the River Island Rocks competition. The competition, which is being run in conjunction with Graduate Fashion Week, where MMU fashion students show every year, tasked students with planning an event that brought local undiscovered talents in the fields of fashion and music to the public eye.
The team’s proposal caught the judges imagination and was selected as one of only four across the country to go ahead as an actual event.
Showcasing new talent
The jam-packed event, on Thursday 7 May at The Ritz nightclub, will include a catwalk show from MMU’s fashion design students, the best of River Island’s current collection, live music from local bands and the cream of Manchester DJs.
The students have worked tirelessly to organise all aspects of the event, from liaising with nightclub managers, to booking bands, designing posters and generating interest on a host of fashion blogs and social media networks.
Celebrating design
Fashion student Becci Neary says: “We decided to get involved because we believed that we could bring something special to the event. The music scene in and around Manchester can have a profound effect on our work. We see fashion and music as one whole entity and this is perfect opportunity to celebrate a collaboration of the two. We’ve secured some great names for BEATMODE and it’d be fantastic to win River Island Rocks”.
Natasha Young, from River Island HQ, comments: “We believe that fashion should also be fun and what better way to capture all of this than a series of regional parties? River Island Rocks is all about celebrating fashion and design in a fun and imaginative way.”
Two River Island executives will attend the event to judge whether BEATMODE deserves to win the competition and the team awarded one thousand pounds in prize money. Should the students win, they plan to use the money to fund their final year fashion show.
