Dewsbury town hall was the venue for a unique fashion show on 9th May.
East meets West was an idea that Sadia Hussain from InHouse Training had for a community cohesion project, where young girls of all ages organised and participated in a fashion show.

The young girls involved in the project included both current and previous participants of the Activity Agreement. Stacey and Laura were already attending InHouse as part of their Activity Agreement when they were asked to take part.

The culturally diverse group of young girls began organising the event last October, giving up their free time to do so. Funding for the project came from the Princes Trust.
This was the first young people lead project of its kind in Kirklees. “I wanted to encourage young girls of all backgrounds to work together towards a common goal and through this to gain an understanding of their different cultures,” said Sadia.

Stacey was one of the models on the day. She says “the fashion show was even better than we expected.” Although nervous on the day, she really enjoyed her experience and felt that her confidence had grown because of it. Stacey’s cousin, Rebecca, was also one of the models. Usually in jeans and trainers Rebecca was concerned that she might trip wearing a dress and heels. Needless to say she didn’t put a step wrong! The clothes that were modelled were a mixture of every day wear and formal wear from the two cultures. The idea being to demonstrate the similarities in dress between western and asian females and to celebrate the differences.

On the day of the fashion show Laura played a vital role, getting the models ready backstage and calming down nervous participants. She even took a walk down the catwalk herself. Laura’s proud grandmother was one of the 180 audience members who attended the event.

Laura admitted that this was the first time she had completed anything. School hadn’t worked out for her and before attending InHouse she lacked confidence in her own abilities.
Laura recognises how her confidence has grown thanks to the fashion show. She says “someone trusted me for a change.” She now feels that her skills are worthwhile and that her ideas are worth expressing.
Laura has now applied to college and is due to start a Level 2 NVQ in Hairdressing in September.

Kirklees Keyworker Matthew Johnson commented “the girls put in so much hard work for this event, they overcame nerves and clearly reaped the rewards. Its great to see the Activity Agreement having such a positive impact on so many young peoples lives.”