The biggest and much awaited annual event at Leeds University took place last month, on February the 21st. The Refectory was busy like never before, with 800 people in the audience dressed in their finery to witness the most successful Leeds RAG Fashion Show (LRFS) to date!
Standard tickets sold out hours before the show, and VIP tickets (worth £25!!) sold out the first night of sale (first time in the LRFS history), which was an obvious sign that expectations were running high this year, and they did not disappoint!
Gluttony
Lust
Wrath
This year’s show took bigger and bolder steps than previous shows, gaining highly esteemed sponsors such as Harvey Nichols, GHD and Jaguar, amongst others. HC Leeds talked to LRFS director, Stephanie Nicolaides, who told us that a lot of hard work and months of preparation were needed to get these major brands on board:
“We were appointed in May and worked on securing sponsorship for the show over the summer. It was extremely hard to get sponsorship via email or phone calls and we spent four months without much luck.
Hair styling was done by GHD, and make up by professional brand Illamasaqua
It wasn’t until we went to business fairs in September/October and met directly with companies that we started to build successful relationships with people. We would present them our pitch of the show and sponsorship benefits and then follow up with a lot of emails with more information and calls.”
Pride
Greed
Once they got some important sponsorships, directors Stephanie Nicolaides and Olivia Strong started recruiting models, stylists, model managers, production staff (all of them students!)…and essentially creating a very hard-working team who dedicated hours, weeks and months to put on what has been claimed to be ‘one of the most prestigious Charity Fashion Shows in the UK’.
“We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has supported us. Our incredible sponsors made the event possible, and the entire LRFS committee are responsible for making the show such a huge success.” Stephanie Nicolaides, Director of LRFS 2013.
Last year’s show set really high standards raising over £12,000! But this year’s team were determined to raise the bar and take the challenge of surpassing such an exorbitant amount. Well…seems like every second of hard work was worth it, and the goal has been more than achieved as LRFS 2013 raised £15,000 for two chosen charities: WaterAid and Candlelighters.
Envy
Sloth
£15,000 is the biggest amount raised in LRFS history to date!
On a personal note, and as part of the LRFS 2013 team, I would like to thank and congratulate everyone made it possible. I’ve been involved in the LRFS not only this year, but for the past three years, and I’ve had the chance to see the incredible growth of the LRFS and how it’s gone from very humble beginnings in Stylus (that room downstairs in the Union where everyone dances their feet off when drunk at the end of every Fruity) to the pages of Tatler Magazine!!
Directors, Stephanie Nicolaides and Olivia Strong, receiving a more than deserved standing ovation.
I’ve witnessed the exciting journey taken from being an average and very standard student fashion show a few years ago, to VERY HIGH STANDARD Fashion Show! Not only the clothing has got better and better every year – with some serious designer brands showcased this and last year- but the styling, enthusiastic models, staging and incredible performances, and essentially the whole production of the show has reached a very very high level making it comparable to many professional fashion events!
Photos:
Wild Child Media – http://www.wildchildmedia.co.uk/
Beth Owen Photography – http://www.modelmayhem.com/bethowenphotography