Colston to Phoenix Fashion Show: Q&A With Fashion Technician peg Squires
Ahead of this week’s Colston to Phoenix Fashion Show, we caught up with Peg Squires – the fashion technician who has been supporting students from Montpelier High School to design and create the show.
Join us for a monumental fashion show at Montpelier High School, in collaboration with Peg Squires, a Fashion Technician from UWE!
Presented as a fundraiser for St Pauls Carnival, the event will take you on a captivating journey through time, celebrating the history of the school from its founding in 1891 as 'Colston’s Girls’ School', through the events of the 20th and 21st century, to its eventual re-naming.
Only by reaching back and confronting the past and its relationship to the present can we face the future.
Don't miss out on this dynamic and entertaining exploration of our heritage. We invite everyone to join us for an evening of fashion, fun, and historical insight.
Hi Peg! Can you tell us about the process that has gone into designing and creating the fashion show pieces?
Over the last 12 weeks, the students have attended a once a week school enrichment session with me and their Art teacher Ms Fincham.
We initially researched fashion and their school uniform 'Through the ages'!
From our findings we designed and created headpieces, props, banners and other pieces. We also tie dyed and printed fabrics! This helped us all to create eight final looks that represent different eras throughout the school's history.
What inspired you to create a fashion show about the history of the school?
Montpelier High school has undergone huge changes in recent years as a result of students themselves and staff forcing long awaited change. This included an acknowledgment of its past linked to Edward Colston, whose money funded the school’s foundation, and how he made his money through the slave trade, resulting in a name change for the school. This story is shared with several other Bristol institutions and it's important to tell it loud and clear for all to hear. Our young people need to fully understand it as a way of moving forward with more knowledge to create a fairer future for themselves.
It's also important for the institutions themselves to fully acknowledge their role in history, for all to witness, so they can embrace a beautiful new future.
I feel personally that learning history through books and formal lessons is one approach, but learning through the arts, music, theatre and visuals is often way more impactful and memorable. Doing this show is a fantastic way to mark how the school is doing with its new headteacher and vision for the future!
What do you want the show to leave people with?
I want people to leave this show with a massive feeling of pride and amazement in what all the young people involved in the project have achieved and what they're capable of having been given the opportunity.
I hope that the audience will feel a new found importance and urgency for keeping the arts well funded in schools, to be able to give our young people these kinds of opportunities to learn creatively and to thrive at school.
Who should come and watch the show?
Anyone who is interested in Bristol history, arts for young people, fashion, textiles, music, visuals and generally watching a really good fun show, which celebrates our young people's achievements, must come to watch this Fashion show!
Buy tickets to the Colston to Phoenix Fashion Show
What’s else is happening in the 2024 Back A Yard programme?
It Takes A City Day Party on 6th July
Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande on 6th July
Crowdfunder prize draw, raising funds for Carnival 2025