The International Student Association (ISA) is planning to host a Traditional Fashion Show as part of its broader ninth annual International Jayhawk Festival. The event will be held on Wednesday, April 16, at the Burge Union from 3 to 5 p.m. It brings together 15 models and emcees from various cultural backgrounds, aiming to promote the presence of international students at KU, their diverse backgrounds and cultures.
The event also acts as an opportunity for all students to connect, not just international ones, according to Haruka Naito, the president and events coordinator of the ISA.
“The purpose is to promote the international students’ presence and show our diverse cultures and backgrounds,” Naito said. “It’s a great opportunity for students to build connections with each other.”
For Naito, this event is more than a performance — it’s also a chance for international and domestic students alike to create meaningful relationships.
“There are so many international students at KU, but we don’t always connect with each other,” Naito said. “During rehearsals, I saw students from different countries exchanging Instagrams, talking about their backgrounds and clothes. And so I think the main purpose of this event is also to promote that kind of connection and share memories with each other.”
While the fashion show is one of the festival’s biggest points, it’s only one part of a much broader celebration. Food stalls, cultural tabling, workshops and games will also take place throughout the event, giving all those attending the chance to learn, taste and engage with a multitude of cultures beyond their own.
Varun Kore, a volunteer chairperson for the ISA, has been working hard behind the scenes to make the fashion show happen, from coordinating rehearsals to finding models to promoting the event all around campus.
“I’ve been reaching out to other international associations and helping with rehearsals, even though I won’t be in the show myself,” Kore said. “We want people to come, learn something new and walk away with more appreciation for the diversity here.”
For both Kore and Naito, the fashion show is an interactive and visual way to remind domestic students, many of whom may have never interacted with their international peers, that KU is a global community.
“Some American students are not interested in other cultures at all. That’s really sad, but that’s true,” Naito said. “So one good way to get them interested, visibly, is clothes. They just come to the Union and say, ‘Oh, look, there’s a festival. Let’s go.’ And they find a lot of fascinating, different backgrounds and different clothes with different songs. That would be great.”
Kore echoed Naito’s sentiment, emphasizing how cultural understanding can often lead to a stronger, more united campus.
“We all belong to one family, like one human society so this is one of the ways that either one of us, domestic or international, can find themselves in a more sustained and family-like experience where they can learn about each other,” Kore said. “When they attend the event they will see how unique each one of them are, from how we are being represented as one society on a stage of respect, love and dignity among each other.”
Looking ahead, the ISA has big plans beyond the fashion show and festival. Naito said that the group is hoping to host a food exchange event, which would feature food trucks from Lawrence, in a collaboration with other cultural student organizations.
“We want to create more spaces where cultures can come together – not just for international students, but for everyone at KU,” she said. ‘These events should be for everyone who wants to broaden their perspective.”
Overall, both ISA members hope that both the festival and fashion show spark more than just curiosity in KU students; they hope that it sparks change.
“If you do want to learn things, you want to change,” Kore said. “And if you do change, you get to learn more new things, adding on and on and on.”
This article was edited by Head News Editor Emily Harter. If the information in this article needs to be corrected, please contact emily.harter@ku.edu.
