The Global Connections Committee, a branch of the Wisconsin Union Directorate, is dedicated to highlighting the wide variety of cultures that UW students bring with them to campus. Committee members plan festivals, share food from around the world, and host cultural arts and crafts fairs to carry out this mission.
UW students have also celebrated multiculturalism in style with events from the committee like its Runways of the World show. Large campus events like this are still gradually coming back into fashion as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, but past shows have featured dozens of students modeling traditional clothing from various parts of the world.
The runway gives students a chance to strut their stuff, show off their heritage, and expand perspectives on fashion. “Clothes are a way to express yourself. It’s a way to show how you want other people to perceive you,” Srinidhi Emkay ’18 explains in an exhibition video. “For me, it’s saying I am Indian. It’s saying that my roots are in India even though I grew up in America.”
Below you’ll see what Emkay and others wore to celebrate their roots in the 2018 Runways of the World event. Photos by Jeff Miller, University Communications.
