On March 6, the International Coordinating Council shared presentations from six countries and one continent: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Philippines, India, Iran, Thailand and Africa. Barikisu Issaka, graduate student in mass communications, and Ketan Shende, graduate student in biological and agricultural engineering, hosted the event.
This year, the ICC tried a new interactive way to reveal which country was going to be presented.
“This year’s show had a unique interactive feature of asking questions to see if we could identify countries by certain pictures,” Wendy Matthews, assistant director of International Programs at Kansas State, said.
Although this was the first year the fashion show was online, the ICC organized an event filled with colorful descriptions and photos of the participants showing off their clothing.
The African Student Union and Philippine Student Association also participated in the show, sending in a video slideshow of their attire.
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“The good thing about an online event is that the audience can focus more on the dresses and their descriptions, and you can present more in a limited amount of time,” Ghina Zia, graduate research assistant in biomedical computing and devices, said.
The fashion show offered new perspectives on fashion from other cultures, showing how different parts of a single country can have different cultural apparel.
Zia said the fashion show is cherished because it promotes intercultural harmony and diversity at K-State.
“This kind of activity really helps me to admire and appreciate differences in fashion,” Matthews said. “Learning about the day-to-day aspects of other cultures is one of the things that has been so interesting about meeting people from other parts of the world.”
Elizabeth Chapman, sophomore in political science, encouraged more students to attend multicultural events like the International Fashion Show.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity for people to learn about a culture that’s different than their own and getting in contact with other people from multicultural organizations,” Chapman said.
