Over 80 students across The Creative School produce flagship fashion show
From RTA Media to Professional Music to Fashion, students from various disciplines within The Creative School came together to produce Mass Exodus: an annual runway show and exhibit showcasing the creations of fourth-year Fashion students. Coordinated by students enrolled in the Live Events Supercourse, the course was centred around planning, producing and executing the event on a large scale with multiple stakeholders in mind. While Fashion students showcase garments on the runway, media production managed behind- the-scenes production, Professional Music students created the soundtrack, and Professional Communication students facilitated marketing, social media and promotions.
Joseph Medaglia, Chair of Fashion, says Mass Exodus provides students with the unique experience to explore all aspects of a live event production and put their skills to the test when executing Mass Exodus.
“Mass Exodus provides a unique opportunity for students from across The Creative School to collaborate in the Live Events Supercourse to produce a large-scale, professional, and multi-faceted event that showcases the excellent work of Fashion students at TMU,” he said. “This year marks the 35th anniversary of Mass Exodus and presents the culmination of our first graduating students from Fashion's redesigned curriculum. At this year's Mass Exodus, we witnessed a wide array of students' skill and design perspectives, a connection to cultural legacies, the use of various materials and technology, and a liberated and free expression of creativity.”
A collaborative experience like no other
Fourth-year Creative Industries student Ricardo Felix served as the Public Relations Lead for Mass Exodus this year, as part of the Live Events Supercourse. His responsibilities encompassed spearheading promotional efforts for the event, including media relations, writing press releases, managing guest relations and conducting outreach communications to both the campus community and the wider fashion community in Toronto. He describes his experience in the Live Events Supercourse as incredible and eye-opening, providing a fresh perspective on the intricacies of curating a live, large-scale event.
“From developing the concept of the show,budgeting and project management, to creating branding and promotion campaigns, this course gave me a hands-on experience that enriched my educational experience here at TMU,” Felix said. “An important lesson that I learned from working on Mass Exodus this year is that producing a fashion show takes a lot of collaboration. I had an amazing team of talented creatives from different programs, and we all brought different skills from graphic design, social media management, set design, model choreography, production management, and so much more. Being able to blend a myriad of different skill sets in a team is essential and will lead to an all-encompassing event.”
Garments as mediums of self-expression
Fourth-year Fashion students are given an extremely unique and special opportunity to showcase their creations and express their view to the wider public at Mass Exodus, engaging with a blended crowd of industry professionals, artists, academics, scholars, designers, creators and fellow students. Fashion student Lexie Zhang showcased her newest ready-to-wear collection with her brand LEXI. The collection, titled TRAVELER, is inspired by astronauts who traveled to different dimensions to explore space.
Fashion student Nick Campbell’s final-year collection draws inspiration from emo bands from the early 2000s. He says the visual language and aesthetic surrounding music and cover art challenged him to translate these factors into his garments. He explains that having the opportunity to showcase his designs on the runway made all his hard work over the past four years worth it,
“Having worked on the collection for an entire year, I had a lot of doubt going into the runway show because I wasn't really sure if it was going to read the way I wanted it to, or if people were going to understand the references and get the vibe that I was going for, he said. “But as soon as I saw everything go down the runway, all that doubt and hesitation kind of just went away. I just know that like I'm never gonna stop making clothes and there's nothing I've ever done creatively that's been as rewarding as this year of my life.”
The annual Mass Exodus fashion show and exhibition is one of Toronto’s biggest student-run runway shows. The interdisciplinary nature of the event, involving individuals from across The Creative School, provides students with the unique opportunity to plan and produce a live event from start to finish.
The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University
The Creative School is a dynamic faculty that is making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Made up of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.