Last Saturday, Oberlin’s Black Student Union (ABUSUA) presented its 2026 Fashion Show, “The Black Experience.” The event saw an impressive turnout of students, faculty, and alumni, with a long line that snaked up the stairs leading to Carnegie Building’s Root Room. Once people were seated, emcee Divine McAllister, OC ’24, opened the event with a wide grin and witty remarks. The show began, and the audience was immediately enraptured.

ABUSUA has hosted fashion shows since 2016, although 2025 was skipped, according to Mekhiah McFadden, College third-year and ABUSUA’s current president. McFadden was initially hesitant to bring the show back this year; she worried she would not receive enough help to successfully uphold the legacy of its previous iterations. Kimberly Springer, assistant dean for Intercultural Engagement and director of the Multicultural Resource Commons, encouraged her to create a more sustainable and less stressful vision for the show.

​“You should at least try to have it,” Springer said. “You want to continue the legacy, but you might have to reimagine it.”

Under McFadden’s direction, ABUSUA began organizing the show in the fall, with rehearsals beginning in late November.

There were several notable changes in both the process and execution of this year’s show. ​For one, this year marked the first time that ABUSUA has utilized outside designers. This change allowed students to focus more on logistics, facilities, and practicing their modeling. The students also worked with a consultant who Springer hired to advise them on how to hold rehearsals.

After months of build-up, the show was a great success. ​College fourth-year Moé Ariyoshi attended the event and was thrilled by the show’s liveliness. 

“It was more than just [a] fashion show,” she said. “It was [about] representing … Black History Month and supporting Black artists.”

On stage, the models exuded confidence, each adding their own flair to their walks. Some laughed and danced as they approached the cameraman, whereas others maintained serious expressions. Their behavior reflected the clothing they wore. While some sashayed down the stage in long, colorful dresses, others walked somberly with blood-stained shirts and zip ties around their hands. Some of these stylistic choices celebrated African heritage, while others alluded to political issues across the world.

“Fashion is a political statement [of] who gets to wear what and what is deemed appropriate,” Springer said. “Coloring outside of the lines — you can do that with your clothing.”

Models styled with zip ties were dressed in designs by Moody Mori, a Palestinian artist whose work is inspired by the grief Palestinians have been experiencing. Springer commented on the political ability of Mori’s designs.

“Fashion is like living art,” she said. “People are able to have a voice and make statements on what they wear. In our current times, that’s very important to think about because sometimes you’re not able to have a conversation with someone, but [you can] communicate … with your clothing of who you are and what you stand for.”

McFadden had planned for the show to embrace solidarity across marginalized communities. In addition to Mori’s fashion line, the show also included a statement recognizing support for countries undergoing political turbulence.

“I wanted the show to be inclusive with everything going around in the world right now,” McFadden said. “I wanted it to focus on unity throughout Black and Brown communities.”

Performers did more than just model clothes. Between acts, students presented spoken word, sang songs, and danced. McAllister even led a round of trivia on Black history at Oberlin. The audience was deeply engaged with the show. Many students hopped out of their seats to dance along to DJ Shake’s music. At some point, students and faculty ran onto the stage to dance the Wobble.

“I was excited to see how the crowd would interact with those emcee intermission pieces,” McFadden said. “We got [President Carmen Twillie] Ambar up dancing, which was very nice. We got Dean [of Students and Vice President] Karen Goff to get up [and] do a couple line dances. … It was nice to see people be in a room together and interact.”

The fashion show managed to confront profound trauma while also embracing the joy of community. Afterwards, ABUSUA threw an after-party to celebrate.

“The [Afrikan Heritage House] community is kind of tucked away on the fringe of our campus, so it was nice to see them taking up space somewhere central to the campus,” said Ariyoshi.

McFadden expressed desires to continue to hold fashion shows in the future.

“I definitely will be there to help and guide the people for next year’s fashion show, if I am not the one planning it,” she said.