On 3 and 4 March, a celebration of the pupil’s design skills, dance talents and collaboration took place as they delivered Surbiton High School’s Fashion Arts Showcase. The pupils wholeheartedly embraced the theme for this year, recognising literature and values and produced some of the most sophisticated and impressive interpretations.
The seven Houses, as well as our amazing gymnasts and home-grown Year 11 rock band, took to the stage to demonstrate their independence, passion, creative energy and devotion and produced two performances with professionalism and huge integrity. We are hugely proud of every individual that contributed to the development of two evenings of such fantastic teamwork and collaboration.
With our move to ensure that all school events are as eco-aware as possible, the pupils were tasked with one rule: no plastic. They rose to the challenge with real determination and imagination, developing newspaper prom dresses, a papier-mâché snake and a highly impressive lion outfit from paper. The pupils never fail to amaze me with their ability to develop their own audio/visual media to accompany each performance, and this year was no different with the community fully embracing the values of courage, compassion, equality, forgiveness, perseverance, ambition and independence.
Each House was judged over four main categories, with an overall winner selected by our expert judging panel. The panel consisted of Mr Timothy Rennie, with 25 years experience at Vogue and Vanity Fair; Miss Sophie Gumienna, currently a second year Fashion Textiles Knitwear student who has worked alongside AGR Knit helping to develop and work on their NikeXAgr knit collection and their AW22 collection, which has just been released; and finally, Miss Shania Matthews, a freelance embroidery and print designer, specialising in embroidery and fabrics and is currently a product developer. The judging panel announced some of the individual category winners that were worth a whopping 700 points each, with Curie House winning overall.
Our Head Judge, Mr Timothy Rennie, said “Without doubt, this was the best show I have seen during my time of having the pleasure of judging the annual show. Please pass on my congratulations to all the pupils involved. The School and pupils and their parents must be very proud of everything achieved.”
I am, as ever, filled with feelings of both pride and wonder at the achievements, passion and enthusiasm of each and every participant of the Fashion Arts Showcase. Following our enforced break, it has been a privilege to support all our highly talented and motivated pupils and to see their ideas become a reality, and the collaboration within each House to fill a huge number of roles; choreographers, outfit designers, make-up artists and especially House Leaders. Congratulations to everyone involved, it has been a pleasure and an honour to lead you through Fashion Arts Showcase 2022 and we can’t wait for next year.
Categories: Senior School