A Fashion Show A World Apart
It was a sunny June afternoon in 2018 when we realized that the heart of the Paper Fig Foundation resided not on the runways of New York or backstage in Kampala, but in the streets of Kasese, Uganda.
The 63 young women who danced down the dusty runway in Kasese were given the same instructions by the same woman that any New York runway model could expect.
“Go. Walk straight down the center, and look into the lens of the camera,” said Laurie DeJong, CEO of LDJ Productions, which is responsible for the event production of New York Fashion Week.
DeJong is also the founder of the Paper Fig Foundation, which empowers women and girls through fashion in Eastern Africa.
The models, in this case, wore their own designs. The culminating project of their six-month training at the Paper Fig Sew School in Kasese was to design their own dresses to wear at the annual Paper Fig Fashion Show, which brings everyone out into the streets to watch the celebration.
“The whole concept behind the fashion show is to give them a chance to show off the work they have done,” said DeJong, “and really, just to have some fun because they’re kids or young adults and, you know, we all need to have some fun now and then.”
Proudly wearing their own designs, the women of the Paper Fig Sew School exuded celebration as they made their way down the runway. And after Laurie DeJong sent them out one by one, they locked eyes with a cameraman: David McIntyre, who has squatted at the end of hundreds of runways in New York.
“The sew school show was the best show I’ve ever photographed,” he said of the experience. “I loved the joy and authenticity of it. There was no hype, no bottom line, just a celebration and a lot of pride.”
Even though all the factors surrounding the event are different - the cultures, the economics, the politics, the resources – there is a sameness to the event itself. A single woman walking proudly down a lonely runway, all eyes on her. For a moment, the differences between New York and Paris and Kampala and Kasese dissolve, and these are just beautiful women wearing their work with pride.
“When these girls come to the school,” said DeJong, “it’s not just teaching them sewing. It’s giving them the confidence to go out into the world and support themselves and be an upstanding member of the community. It’s a place for them to gather and support one another too.”
The fashion show brought community leaders to Kidodo, a neighborhood that doesn’t typically get a lot of attention. There’s no foot traffic; there’s no commerce. There are dusty streets and brick edifices and outhouses. There are children with no shirts carrying their baby brothers on their backs, and there is the Paper Fig Foundation Sew School. On this day, though, a white tent is erected, folding chairs are trucked in, and a sound system is set up. Everyone from the neighborhood feels the sense of excitement, and hope, in the air.
One politician stood up after the fashion show to say a few words, and it showed that the young women had made an impression.
“He said that this was a world-class event,” said DeJong, “and there is so much opportunity here for so many more students to join the school and for this to really become a huge event for the entire city, not just their community. So there’s a sense of pride within not just the students and the members of the sewing school community, but of the larger community including the politicians and community leaders.”
The politicians have the power to bring needed funding to these areas. But the fashion show, ultimately, is about something deeper than the potential for economic stimulation.
“Just the look in their eyes and the gleam in their eyes, they're just so proud of their work,” said DeJong. “And to have their family and their community watch these girls walk down the runway, just like they would in New York or Paris or Kampala and show off the hard work that they've done over the past six months was something that I don't think they'll ever forget. I know I’ll never forget it.”
