It’s certainly not every Friday night we are invited to dress up in black tie and visit the Union’s stunning debate chamber alongside hundreds of other fashion-forward enthusiasts. The austere space was immediately transformed by projections of meticulously executed shoots and energised by the DJ, Oscar, tantalising the audience with what was to come before any models even entered the room. It was immediately apparent that it would be a Friday night to remember – a true showcase of the sheer effort each and every member of CUCFS had clearly gone to in order to make the evening possible.
Their theme for 2026, – ‘A Walk of Becoming’ – was the brainchild of vice-president Maddie Willis. She explained further about its conception when we sat down to talk with her and president Paige Griffiths, that “our old vice-president used different magazines as the inspiration for each walk. I think a lot of charity fashion shows have a really broad vision, so then it’s hard to distinguish individual walks. And I feel like it’s more fun for the audience if there’s a distinct theme to each.” Maddie also told us about discovering her prophetic vision when it comes to military-inspired styles: “I was secretly quite proud of myself because I had already picked a military theme, like the Napoleonic tailoring and stuff, and then over the last 6 months, it’s everywhere, Urban Outfitters, Hollister, runways – that’s my own personal success moment. I predicted that!” The continual resurgence of historical motifs in fashion led her to take inspiration from different eras of fashion for the five walks.
“The standard for this year’s show was incredibly ambitious”
Each walk embodied this theme of becoming. The designs of walk one ‘Gilded’ opened the show, lavishly romantic with touches of regency and renaissance grandeur, while walk two, ‘Duty’, drew from military styles, workwear utility, and industrial textures, exhibiting the ways in which social change can impact fashion following periods of conflict and unrest. Bright colours and bold silhouettes exploded onto the runway in walk three ‘Volume’, where materials from metallic, to sheer, to fur recalled the decadent club spirit of the 1960s-1980s, when fashion was made to be a spectacle. It was clear after watching walks one and two – not only meticulously curated and designed but skillfully choreographed and performed – that the standard for this year’s show was incredibly ambitious, and no small detail would be left behind. By the time walk three began, and the Union lit up with vibrant green and pink, the audience knew that they were watching a particularly exciting show this year.
In a dramatic shift, walk four ‘Grit’ (the initial inspiration, and favourite walk of vice-president Maddie), looked back to the underground punk culture of the late 20th century, where style functioned as a means of subcultural protest and confrontation. The designs of this walk were particularly varied, with models engulfed in tartan and denim, pinned into corsets, and adorned with leather and metal. This era was most important for Maddie growing up, and her personal investment shines through in the details: “I really pushed for it to be era-appropriate music on that one in a way that I kind of didn’t with the others […] I got sent the mix for walk four and I was like, ‘No, no, you need some Joan Jett in there.’ Like it needs to be appropriate because I was so committed to thinking of that walk.” Paige and Maddie both told us they would willingly and eagerly wear everything from ‘Grit’, whereas the future-facing fashion of walk five ‘Morph’ is where the show becomes more experimental.
In ‘Morph’, the dialogue between technology and human processes was at the forefront of their creative vision, dominated by styles which recall futurism, evolution, and innovation. The designs of ‘Morph’ were some of the biggest and brightest in the show, incorporating translucent and luminescent materials with striking and dramatic silhouettes which expanded far beyond the bodies of the models. Paige told us “it’s so self-indulgent, no one’s actually going to wear this out on the street,” but this was, and always has been, precisely the point of ‘high fashion’.”
“It is these kinds of interpersonal connections between creative and fiercely dedicated students which makes this show happen”
This final walk was Paige’s personal favourite: “I think the music’s really good, all the different mixes, and the choreography I also really liked (set to ‘Stateside’, by PinkPantheress), I think that was so stylistic and even if you just watch the choreo, you can tell what the theme was.” The show’s music really stood out to us, and we were eager for Paige and Maddie to tell us exactly how these tracks were decided on, for which we have creative director Asha Persaud to thank. After leading Music and Tech at the Durham University Charity Fashion Show (who are “kind of the blueprint” for the charity fashion show), the pair “knew she was really talented, so sent her the brief with a couple of song suggestions, and she kind of just went wild and did a really good job.”
Paige and Maddie expressed to us just how much it meant for them to be able to platform student designers: “I just think that what’s so special about it is that we’re aiming to show people that actually genuinely personally connect to the show and resonate with the theming.” One of Maddie’s favourite designers was a fashion design student, who grew up and still lives in Cambridge. She emailed CUCFS about her grad collection, centred around her dad’s bookstore in Cambridge which Maddie said was exactly the kind of thing they were looking for. Talking with Paige and Maddie, there is a real sense that it is these kinds of interpersonal connections between creative and fiercely dedicated students which makes this show happen.
However, after seeing the tangible passion and talent of the countless students involved, it felt a real shame to learn that the show’s primary sponsor was Fetch.AI. While watching CUCFS, what stood out to me was that as AI-generated content becomes increasingly entangled with fashion, it is more important than ever to protect these incredible opportunities for student creativity. Does it not feel entirely counterintuitive to encourage students to use an AI assistant to dictate their fashion choices at one of the most singularly exciting and impressive celebrations of student creativity this university has to offer?
The success and scale of this year’s show reached new heights, introducing an entirely restructured executive committee and nearly twice as many models as last year. This shone through in the variety of designs too, and Paige and Maddie told us that the strategy here involved the enthusiastic spamming of Instagram DMs, “just scroll and scroll and message, message and message”. Maddie advises: “I would say we probably messaged 150 people, and ended up with about 40 designers – you just have to overshoot it.”
For models, the pair told us that this commitment mainly consists of weekly rehearsals in Lent, to learn the choreography. Modelling is a slightly less demanding way to get involved with CUCFS, while the executives strive both day and night to make sure everything runs smoothly – Maddie admitted to spending her walk to Revs on the phone to their fashion director.
“The committee can know exactly where all the money they have raised is going, and […] will have a real positive impact on people’s lives”
This led us to talk about whether there was anything that didn’t quite go to plan: Maddie told us “we never like to tell committee members beforehand just how much lugging stuff around is involved […] we shot at the Botanic Gardens in October and had to carry this ginormous, hoop hoop skirt with flowers all over it; we have such a limited budget that we can pay for Ubers if absolutely necessary, but we would prefer to use manpower where possible.” Maddie Matthews, head of sponsorship, could often be seen schlepping 500 cans around Cambridge during show week. When it comes to the (literal) heavy lifting, “There’s not really a solution. But that’s something I think we deal with as a charitable student organisation that professional companies don’t have to deal with […] We definitely all get very buff during show week.” However, with show week done and dusted, both Maddie and Paige are most looking forward to solidifying the already strong friendships formed through CUCFS, without responsibilities for the show getting in the way.
The evolution of the academic gown
The creation of an excellent show, zine, and community aside, what is really incredibly impressive is the £11,940 raised by CUCFS for Refuge, providing life-saving support to survivors of domestic abuse. Paige explained the committee’s choice this year to focus on fundraising a substantial amount for one charity, allowing them to foster a personal connection with the charity, and build “a consistent, prolonged relationship so that we actually really are embodying what it means to support them.” MJ, the rep for Refuge, sent them trivia questions regarding red flags for domestic violence, which CUCFS could use in their November quiz night. This means that the committee can know exactly where all the money they have raised is going, and how all of the work they have put in will have a real positive impact on people’s lives. CUCFS stretches far beyond the stylish show in the Union, bringing together Cambridge’s most fashion-forward group of students, a whole host of upcoming student designers, and everyone who donated and attended the show, in helping those in need and making a difference.
