Courtesy of Sean Elliot
While spring semesters fly by in a blur of classes, friends, and mounting summer job applications, student programming is a refreshing respite from our busy schedules. Campus life blooms around this time of year with bright flyers advertising fun events planned by core student organizations and offices. One event, however, shines as a campus highlight. The People of Color Alliance, or P.O.C.A., Fashion Show is an annual student-led showcase that translates the creativity fostered by diverse voices into bold styling and cultural pride. Though only kicking off in 2023, the P.O.C.A. Fashion Show is one of Conn’s most-frequented events, such that seating relies on being early rather than being on time. Still, people flood in, standing against the walls to glimpse at student models as they pass by. I myself remember attending the second show crowded against Cumming’s second floor balcony, peering down at the beautiful procession of my peers. The P.O.C.A. Fashion Show is also an opportunity to show off personal flair, and students flock in showing off their own unique styles as others culminate on the runway. With this in mind, the fashion show is an iconic source of campus community, but per this year’s cancellation, regular attendees are left wondering whether this is a momentary lapse or denotes a significant shift in cultural visibility at Conn.
In what would’ve been its fourth year running, the cancellation of the P.O.C.A. Fashion Show comes as a shocking announcement, even to members within the organization. Luckmann Pierre ‘26, P.O.C.A. Fashion Show Co-Director, shares his own disappointment, and writes: “Although the Fashion Show has become a staple and one of the most well attended events on campus, we were unable to get a good starting-off point… and the resources needed to have a traditional show are just not available to P.O.C.A. at this current moment.” Though planning and funding were mutual contributors to the announcement, Pierre’s statement about the difficulties in production echo broader concern regarding the work to produce immersive student programming. Paired with a full courseload, students have little time to commit to extracurricular activities, and high-level events like the fashion show, while fun, are serious commitments that can strain individual capacity.
Albeit saddening, P.O.C.A. is approaching this issue steadfastly and are using this year to regroup. They have even announced their Fifth Annual P.O.C.A. Fashion Show entitled “Threads of Rebellion”, with their Instagram biography openly stating “The 5th Annual POCA Fashion Show is Happening.” Under a visionary new theme, P.O.C.A. ‘s efforts orient the campus eye forward and invite students to collaborate on their show’s brave return.
P.O.C.A. ‘s planning for next year doesn’t leave students without a place to turn their creative focus, though. They’ve excitedly announced their shift to a fashion lookbook in place of their in-person showing and are in the midst of production. This lookbook will “keep with the theme of threads of rebellion while focusing more on personal style” states former Stylist Terry Cai ‘28, investigating how style and personhood transit one another to illustrate identity. Although a sure change from a full showing, P.O.C.A. ‘s pivot to magazine demonstrates the resilience of Conn’s students of color, embodying a longstanding history of empowerment and artistry through vogue fashion.
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