Globe Cafe Newcastle ran a gathering event on fashion discussion at Jesmond Parish Church Hall on 18 November. The event starts at 7pm and ends at 9:30pm. The highlight of the evening was an interactive discussion where participants explored how fashion can serve as a bridge for cross-cultural communication.
Eric Wang, one of a volunteer in Globe Cafe, said: “So many international students in Newcastle don’t have the chance to make friends with local people, so we hope this activity can bring them a feeling of home when they study abroad.”
Wang added “It’s also an opportunity to educate more people about other cultures, every Monday we host various events to encourage cross-cultural interactions.”
About 80 people attented this event. The participants engaged in a discussion on the role of fashion. Hiuyee Cheng, an international student from Hong Kong, said: “ Fashion is a way of self-expression. It can be seen as a medium and an expression of different cultural backgrounds to a certain extent.”
John Dowling, another volunteer who disagrees with Cheng’s notion because he believes that fashion is merely clothes. Dowling said: “ When everyone wears the same style of clothes, fashion cannot be a medium. In this case, fashion is just clothes.”
Cheng said “The reason why I think fashion can act as a cultural bridge is people may not understand each other because of language barrier, but through fashion you can visually express unique cultures and it can help us connect with people from different countries.”
People were divided into teams to explore whether our clothing reveals anything about who we are. Dovile Snarskaite, a member in team 1, an international student from Lithuania, stated: “It’s important to be aware of what we wear and how we present ourselves out of respect for others. However, our clothing doesn’t always reflect our true selves. We shouldn’t let it take precedence over other things in our life and forget what really counts.”
The participants also reflected on whether clothing can represent one’s self-worth.
Avery Guo, another international student from Mainland China, said, “For me, self-worth does not come from what I wear. It comes from helping others and being compassionate to the world.”
Snarskaite, shared her opinions on the subject. She states that while to a certain extent, our clothing and appearance might reveal our social standing or personal preferences to a certain degree. However, this only provides a small amount of information for others to make some assumptions about us. Our clothes do not reflect our worth or self-worth.
“Our value as human beings comes from something else”said Snarskaite.
In addition to the discussions, the event also featured a fashion show. Many volunteers were invited to dress up with accessories and costumes provided by the organisers to show their views on fashion. And the top three were voted.
“ I am really looking forward to the upcoming events, and that it was not only the topic of fashion that attracted me, but also the fact that the people here were really kind, which made my experience a home-like feeling.” Said one participant, who wished to remain anoymous.