Ubuntu Charity Fashion Show: 'A Deeply Personal and Cultural Narrative'

In a town where fashion shows tend to blur into one another it is easy to assume that all you really need is an elevated platform and some well-dressed students to pace it for 90 minutes. It was with this opinion that I arrived at the Ubuntu Charity Fashion Show 2026. It proved, however, to be sorely misplaced.

From the outset, Ubuntu distinguished itself from the rest with a clear sense of purpose. With over 150 attendees and a line-up of international designers — Afro Muru, Char Designz, Cumo London, Diuz Authentic, Trissel’s Afrocentric Couture, FAB, Paige the Artist, Form and Fits, House of Gianna, and Reina’s Gowns — the event carried a professional weight that set it apart. Moreover, it offered something often absent from student fashion shows: a deeply personal and cultural narrative.

The evening opened with a performance of traditional Zimbabwean music by a trio of musicians. The mbira, with its soft, resonant tones, created a reflective atmosphere, accompanied by steady, harmonious vocals. Their songs invited contemplation, and the trio explained that their music fulfilled their “desire to be connected with the past.” This emphasis on continuity, on being part of something larger, carried through the rest of the evening.

The fashion show was structured by three movements, ‘Seed,’ ‘Growth,’ and ‘Bloom,’ which were conceptualised over the summer by Laila Moore. Each of these traced a stage of development, and seemed to draw upon oral tradition, with each segment opening with spoken word poetry shared with a group sitting at the speaker’s feet. 

‘Seed’ focused on ancestry and origin, and emphasised roots — both literal and symbolic. The segment opened with the phrase “we do not walk alone,” a reminder of the shared heritage expressed by the word Ubuntu, “I am because we are.”

‘Growth’ shifted toward becoming. Here, the collections explored experimentation and how we shape our identity.

‘Bloom’ brought the showcase to its conclusion. This final movement moved beyond flourishing into creation, highlighting not just the culmination of growth, but the ability to generate something new. The distribution of flowers to the audience served as a symbolic gesture, reinforcing this theme of renewal and shared experience.

Proceeds from the show will go towards DataKirk, an enterprise that supports ethnic minorities in Scotland in data literacy and analytics training.

What ultimately set the Ubuntu Charity Fashion Show apart was its clarity of intention. It sought to do justice to the complexity and richness of the cultures it represented — bringing together performance, philosophy, and design into a cohesive whole. Let this be proof that not every St Andrews fashion show is cut from the same cloth. In fact, some are actually worth tailoring your attention to.

Photos by Achyuth Rajagopalan