Westminster students and staff from the School of Management and Marketing held Diversity Fashion Show at Marylebone Campus on 5 April. The event aimed to readdress colonisation and chauvinism, and to showcase empowerment, peace, and a new way of being through clothing, artefacts, and narrative.
The Fashion Show is among the initiatives in the School of Management and Marketing to level up opportunities for students from minority backgrounds. It explored two main themes, including Afro-Futurism, the imagining of an alternative history of a never colonised Africa; and Feminine Leadership for All, addressing the loss of feminine qualities and attributes in leadership, and discussing impacts and possible solutions.
The event is part of two modules on leadership, titled Practice and Leadership, and Employability and Leadership, taught at different degree courses in the School. The modules were designed by Naseem Joban, Senior Lecturer and EDI Lead in the School of Management and Marketing, to give opportunities to previously unheard voices via a decolonised curriculum in a non-threatening environment. The modules contain several diversity and inclusivity elements and were taken by 300 students in the School.
Reflecting on the Fashion Show, Oloruntoba Adebola, Business Management (Marketing) BA student; and Tember Cadette, student of the Business and Management (Digital Business) BA course, said: “Being able to lead a project that provided the opportunity to look within and discover more about our history was excellent. Rejecting norms and demonstrating our love for our culture provided a mutual understanding and goal. Being a part of such a diverse group of people amplified the love and personality developed throughout the project. Providing us with real life skills and experience, it is definitely something that will always be cherished and remembered.”
The 30 students who took part in the Fashion Show worked collaboratively to pick up vital themes from the Level 6 modules, including the creation of a compassionate, non-judgemental, and non-threating environment. The Feminine Leadership theme explored metaphors and illustrated the need for intuition and emotional intelligence; and confidence was built as aspects of culture were discussed through clothing and artefacts of Afro-Futurism.
Talking about the success of the Diversity Fashion Show, Naseem said: “I saw my incredible students blossom and grow and develop in this dedicated space. This was especially apparent the day after the event, when a tangible shift happened in the students’ maturation. Working with these remarkable students was a highlight for me, to see their potential begin to be realised. Their collaboration built huge camaraderie, trust, and well-being. They worked exceptionally hard over the twelve weeks.”
The level 6 leadership modules also serve as a long term five-year research project, led by Charles Chi Cui, Professor of Marketing at the School of Management and Marketing, and hope to impact the Higher Education Sector as well as government policies. The goal is to build the confidence and identities of the students, and to gather empirical data through qualitative and quantitative research to find out what approaches made a difference.
The next step the researchers aim for is to encourage employers to see the competencies of Westminster students, and to translate their work into graduate opportunities for minority students who were denied of them.
Watch the recording of the School of Management and Marketing Diversity Fashion Show, and learn more about Marketing, and Business and Management courses at the University of Westminster.
