How to DO: a Fashion Show

How to DO: A Fashion Show

Do you know your vintage from your couture? Your Louboutin from LouisVuitton? We don’t, but we do know what makes for a great fundraising event! Below are some of our top tips to help you run a successful fashion show.

1. Potential Venues

• Local church or community halls, shopping centres, colleges or retail premises make great venues for a fashion show. The main thing to consider is how big you want your fashion show to be.
• It’s important to bear in mind that as well having space for your catwalk so that your models can strut their stuff, you’ll also need to make sure that your models have a private space for your models to change and do all their other important pre-show preening such as hair and makeup.
• When looking for a venue, be sure to mention that you are raising money for charity and ask if the venue offers any charity rates, or even better, completely for free.

1. Tickets and entry fees

• Aim to sell the majority of tickets for your event in advance, offering a small discount for advance purchases or early bird discounts. Consider including a glass of wine or soft drink with the ticket price.
• You can advertise your event around your local community by putting up posters in local businesses, shop windows and community notice boards. Where possible, try and advertise your event to groups who may be particularly interested in attending a fashion show, such as mother and toddler groups, ladies business networks, your local Women’s Institute and fashion students. You can also use social media and online ‘what’s on websites such as Time Out, meetup.com and Spoonfedto let people know about your event.
• Use our press release template <insert hyperlink> to involve the local press in your plans – if you’re really lucky, they may even send a photographer to take photos at the event!

1. Clothes, Models and Designers

• Speak to local retailers who may be interested in showcasing their collections. They may be happy to supply the clothes, bringing them along on the day. You could go for a sole retailer, or try to get several retailers from your high street involved. Get in touch with your local Children’s Society shop and ask about borrowing some of their best clothes for the show.
• Check for retailers in your area offering clothes parties or charity fashion shows. Some businesses sell this way and are looking for opportunities to retail their products at events. Most business will donate 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales and a percentage from any orders taken on the night towards your fundraising.
• Ask family, friends, mums and daughters, and fathers and sons to model. For fun/informal shows no experience is necessary and this should be a fun event for all the family to enjoy.For bigger, more formal shows, speak to local colleges offering fashion or hair styling courses. The students there may want to get involved to gain experience.

1. Volunteers

• Don’t attempt to do everything by yourself. Think about what you’ll have going on at your fashion show and try and get as many hands on deck as you need.
• Make sure you have a good compere or host who can help to keep the show in order.
• When asking for volunteers, try and be specific about what you want them to do, be it selling raffle tickets, welcoming and seating guests, selling refreshments, or helping the models. Although two heads are better than one, too many cooks can definitely spoil the broth, so beware of having more volunteers around than needed.

1. Equipment and Licences

• You will need a sound system for playing music and making announcements. For larger shows you may need a raised catwalk and lighting, but in most cases, seating can be arranged around the ‘runway’ at floor level.
• If playing music, you will need to get a PRS licence to enable you to do this legally. Because you’ll be fundraising for charity, you may be eligible for a discount for the licence. Information on applying for a PRS licence can be found at .

1. Fundraising

• Organise a raffle, selling tickets on arrival and during the interval. For guidance on holding a raffle, see our tips for holding a raffle <insert hyperlink> and the Gaming Commission website.
• Sell refreshments or ask the venue if they will donate a percentageof any takings from the bar or from selling food towards your fundraising.
• Consider inviting small local retailers to set up a stall and plan shopping time before the show and during the interval. Stalls selling cards, cosmetics and handbags work well. You can charge the stallholders a small fee for their pitch, ask for a percentage of their takingsor ask them to donate some of their goods as raffle prizes.

1. Other Top Tips

• Create a detailed running order for the night and have plenty of copies available for the compere, models and dressers.
• Consider having other forms of entertainment such as dancers or musicians who can perform in between different sections of the show.
• If announcing each model’s outfit, this will need to include the model’s name, what they are wearing, the designer or retailer and price.
• Plan an interval to sell refreshments and draw the raffle. Make sure you have enough volunteers to help on the night with the door, raffle sales, refreshments, and help the models to get ready.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for freebies. People are often much more generous than you might think, and getting things like raffle prizes and your venue for free will help you keep your costs to a minimum, meaning more money can go towards helping children. Happy planning!