I was invited to present a collection I had developed during fall semester 2019 for my junior thesis presentation at the St. Andrews Annual FS Charity Show. I designed and constructed a showroom under my artist name "MARIKUSHIMUZU", which was an installation containing a bit of furniture design, industrial design, fashion design, and conceptual art that I had been working on. A friend of mine put my work in his Instagram story, when the head of St. Andrews FS Menswear Department saw and reached out to me via a dm on Instagram. I knew the opportunity was plausible since spring semester 2020 I would've already been in Europe (I'm currently studying abroad in Copenhagen).
She flew me out for four days, where I got to assist in the styled fittings, help organize the walk (just for my models during my section of the show), attend dress rehearsals, help the set prep team, etc. They ended up making my collection be apart of the introductory walk for the show, followed up with the first designer display, which always garners the most prep since it's first. I ended up developing great connections with the FS Team, the models, everyone I met on the campus grounds, and the other designers I met during the night of the show. I got corporate access as the designer, which was fully catered with free sushi and an open bar, as well as access to everywhere else. There were plenty of after parties, and each celebration was amazing. This being my second professional showcase as a designer, this experience was much more formatted like high-end runway shows, which require a lot of money, effort, and preparation. I'm blessed to have been apart of this experience, and even more driven to continue exploring this career path as a designer/fine artist.