Compass Charity Fashion Show 2023 was an incredible success raising £4,157 for St Cuthbert's Hospice, bringing the total fundraising for the Charity since the show’s inception in 2022 to over £10,000. 

A dedicated team of over 20 exec members and 30 models spent their summer term planning, choreographing and rehearsing to put on a spectacular sell-out event.

 Our events team organised a fabulous launch party, our sponsorship team secured many impressive partnerships; from generous brands such as Oppo ice cream and Sea Change Wine, and our creative team choreographed and sourced fashion for 6 themed walks. Overall, Compass 2023 was an incredible success and I can’t wait to see what Compass 2024 has in store on the 17th of June! This year I am Head of Sponsorships for Compass and know the show is on track to be spectacular.

The theme for Compass Charity Fashion Show this year is Modern Mythopoiea: exploring the transient nature of contemporary life, rooted in the myths of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Delving into the Roman poet Ovid’s anthology of stories taken from Greek and Roman mythology, discernible themes stand out which persist in the modern world. Each walk identifies a prominent theme in the poem and brings it into the contemporary. Throughout Metamorphoses Ovid’s returns to the theme that art is a mechanism in which people can surpass suffering. Thus, the show opens with Expression a walk that centres around the struggle to celebrate creativity in the corporate world, emphasising the importance of individuality within the confines of a dress code. Walk 2 ‘Connection’ explores the theme of love and turmoil in Metamorphoses. This walk will explore the difficulties of love in the modern-age where unrest creates barriers to love. Walk 3 ‘Narcissism’ follows the story of Narcissus, who falls in love with his own reflection, staring at himself until he died. This walk will explore the role of social media in modern society and the way it perpetuates narcissism and self-obsession leading to insecurity, isolationism, and apathy. Walk 4 ‘Flux’ navigates the end of Metamorphoses where Ovid iterates that people are in a constant state of transition and evolution. ‘Flux’ views this in the contemporary where hyper consumerism is causing change at an exponential rate. The show ends on ‘Origins’: a reminder that all humans originate as equals in nature where we can all find peace and purity of self, beyond societal pressures. Throughout these five walks Compass continues Ovid’s themes creating a new modern mythology.

The Compass Wardrobe

The Compass Wardrobe has been set up as a term-time wardrobe for those in South College and beyond. The aim is to raise money in aid of St Cuthbert’s Hospice whilst simultaneously reducing the impacts of fashion on the environment. We all know the fashion industry is hugely harmful to the environment and that re-wearing clothes is super important, however, people are not always keen, so The Compass Wardrobe enables students to have a wider wardrobe to borrow from, meaning that you can constantly have new ‘looks’ without having to both break the environment and your bank account. If you have any dresses you would like to donate to The Compass Wardrobe we would be very grateful or if you have any dresses you’re happy to ‘loan’ out, we would love to take them on board! All you need to do is DM us on Instagram @thecompasswardrobe to rent/donate!

Compass’ progress so far this year has been fantastic. We started by picking our date, and getting back in touch with Erin, our contact at St Cuthbert’s Hospice who we have worked with previously. After opening exec applications we were blown away by the amount of applications and ended up with a fantastic group of 29 exec members split across various teams: Sponsorship, Fashion, Publicity, Events and Fundraising along with other individual roles. 

After a successful period of model auditions as well, we added 26 models to the team.