LIM College’s 2024 Student-produced Fashion Show Highlights Diversity and Inclusivity

On Friday, students, alumni and industry members gathered at The Glasshouse in New York City for the LIM College Fashion Show. This year’s theme for the show was Fashion Unleashed: Embracing the Elements.

Ahead of the runway show, LIM College president Ron Marshall kicked on the event by introducing the first “Fashion Futures” awards. The awards, he said, recognize the enduring ties between the school and the fashion industry, particularly those dedicated leaders who share a commitment to nurturing talent and driving positive change in the fashion world.

Candidates for the award were industry partners, including board members and alumni who have shown continued support. Recipients of the 2024 award are Jordana Guimarães, cofounder of Fashinnovation, and Nick Woodhouse and Haley Steinberg of Authentic Brands Group. All are members of LIM College’s advisory board and have extended the opportunity for many LIM students to grow through experience.

Each year, the college’s show is student-produced and highlights its exclusive focus on the business of fashion and lifestyle, where students get hands-on experience planning and producing a fashion show. Apart from the apparel design featured in the show, students were responsible for every aspect of the fashion show including styling, marketing, set design and event planning.

Featured designers with collections in the show included Carlton Jones, Cheval, Karl Kani, Adrienne Landau and Melesia Robinson. Each has a unique story working in the fashion industry and highlighting diversity or inclusivity, from Cheval’s work in bridal before launching the nonprofit organization A Girl You Might Know Foundation, to Carlton Jones who has utilized his experience working with notable celebrities, like Queen Latifah and Halle Berry, to create a resort-inspired collection and dress a variety of body types.

In addition to the students who served as the show’s runway models, there was a cancer patient who wore a cap wig from the Verma Foundation, an organization co-founded by Natasha Verma, a cancer survivor, Fox5 news anchor and an honorary chair for the LIM Fashion Show.

Other honorary chairs of the show included Elliot Carlyle, founder of Currently Global and a fashion and jewelry industry consultant, Kirsten Ferguson, Peloton fitness instructor, and Emme, an American supermodel and founder of the True Beauty Foundation. Sponsors and partner organizations for the show included Alice + Olivia, Nine West/Authentic Brands Group, Boxed Water, Curl Daddy, Empire Beauty Schools, Fashinnovation, Fashion Designers of Latin America, Free People, Kendra Scott, The Lions Talent Management Company, RAREculture and Vera Bradley.