MNSU students share fashion from around the world

Minnesota State University, Mankato hosted an international student fall party and fashion show Saturday Oct. 16. 

Bhavani Nainala, an international student at MNSU wore her cultural dress, representing India at the event. She enjoyed the fashion show, saying her favorite part was, “definitely wearing my cultural outfit. I don’t wear that a lot here.” 

Nainala was one of fourteen cultures who walked the runway. 

Ahmed Sadek is a graduate assistant who helped set up the event. He explained, “We are having a fashion show and performance night for all of our students in the theme of a DJ night.”

Sadek expanded upon the brainstorming for the event. 

“We always try to find new ways to engage with our international students to make them feel part of a global community,” Sadek said. “We were thinking of what we could do in the month of October to celebrate fall beginning. And we thought that dancing is always fun. Given that we have people from over ninety-something countries here at MSU, we thought that we could do a DJ night where people can play their songs and people can just jam to it.” 

Nainala said she chose MNSU because of the opportunities. 

“My major is bio technology, so there’s a lot of research opportunities,” Nainala said. “It’s very affordable. They have scholarships, opportunities for international students, and events like these.” 

Although she enjoys school here, her heritage is impactful and deserves to be appreciated and expressed, which she was happily able to do at the event.

Victoria Nwogo represented MNSU’s Nigerian population at the fashion show, and listed her favorite part as, “Just having fun and it gave us an opportunity to display our culture.” She viewed the event as a success. 

Similarly, Sheryam Ranjan, another MNSU Indian representative, also enjoyed the event, “We get to see a lot of cultural dresses from other countries and see people present their countries.” 

International students are also looking forward to their festival later this semester. 

Sadek shared how the fashion show is leading up to the festival, “This is a new thing that we were trying out. This is kinda like the prequel event to the international festival in November, where more than 50 nationalities are going to be present.” 

The festival is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 14 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Central Student Union Ballroom. The event will include food booths, entertainment, workshops, and more. 

Ranjan is planning to attend the November festival as well, and encourages others to come. 

“I would say to embrace your culture, have fun, learn about other cultures, and see what’s out there in the world.”

Header Photo:MNSU students walking the catwalk in the CSU ballroom celebrating their culture through clothing during the International Fashion Show. (Dylan Engel/The Reporter)