‘Welcome to Utopia’: our flagship Charity Fashion Show launches

Our long-standing student-led Durham University Charity Fashion Show (DUCFS) begins this year's campaign. The society has core aims of inspiring societal and behavioural change through the vehicle of creative philanthropy. From its origins, DUCFS has grown to become firmly established as Europe’s largest and most profitable student fundraiser. 

Its theme this year is ‘Welcome to Utopia’, and as well as operating a high profile campaign that attracts global attention and raises substantial sums for charity, a key goal in 2024/25 is making a tangible difference in its local community. In support of this, DUCFS has expanded its portfolio of local outreach projects that our students can get involved in. 

Local support 

DUCFS runs a local outreach platform, Launchpad, across music, community and the creative arts, to reflect its ethos. This initiative focuses on igniting change throughout North East England and contributing to combating challenges facing the local community. It’s delivered in collaboration with charity partners Durham City of Sanctuary and RTProjects, who are also behind the joint ‘Never Give Up’ annual performance at The Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre. 

This year sees Launchpad establish its ‘DJ School Project’ set up by Durham graduates to offer young people opportunities to try DJing. Students can volunteer over the course of November to help participants develop a unique skill in the creative arts and music.

Large-scale brilliance 

Operating across a year-long campaign, DUCFS has raised approximately £1 million over the past five years. It’s a large-scale undertaking which is set to culminate in a fantastic four-night fashion show in February 2025 involving some 50 models and over 4,000 guests. But while the fashion show has become one of the most influential events in the student calendar, it’s not all about this final performance. 

DUCFS highlights and celebrates student creativity, and hosts a number of other events throughout the academic year to this end, including art displays, discussion panels, networking events, student recruitment and social events. 

Throughout the entire campaign, DUCFS showcases the meaningful impact Durham students can have. All funds raised go directly to charity and this year’s campaign will support the vital work of leading UK cancer care charity MacMillan, both through proceeds and by giving exposure through marketing. 

Last year’s campaign raised £230,000 for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). This successfully funded two additional phone helplines, allowing over 19,547 more (potentially lifesaving) phone calls to be answered. DUCFS was also able to fund an educational campaign in the North East of England about the risk of suicide and how to seek support. 

Get involved 

Students can take advantage of an array of opportunities offered by and through DUCFS. The show alone provides modelling, back-stage, logistical, photography, and design development possibilities. The wider DUCFS campaign promises recruitment connections and networking, artistic and creative work showcasing, and further opportunities to participate in panel discussions. Combined with its local volunteering outreach, this year’s campaign offers our student population a rich and varied programme to delve into. 

DUCFS alumni 

DUCFS is keen to nurture relationships with its alumni community too, in recognition of its long-standing tenure as a student society. If you have been involved in the fashion show previously and would like to rekindle your connection, to share memories, or perhaps to explore other avenues for getting involved, the society would be happy to hear from you. 

Take a look at the fashion show from 2023/24's campaign, 'The Future is Now':

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Find out more

• Visit the DUCFS website
• Read more about DUCFS’s North East England based Launchpad initiative
• Interested in a corporate partnership with DUCFS? Find out more about the opportunities
• Read more about our students from South College, who have raised over £20,000 for St Cuthbert's Hospice through their Compass Fashion Show
• Discover how our wider student experience helps our our students develop and find out what life at Durham is like.