Letter from the Editor | May 2021
And so, friends, the academic year has come to a close. It doesn’t seem like that long ago when we as an executive committee stood in the twilight just behind the cathedral and attempted to pop bottles of champagne for the sake of our headshots. Since then, there has been such an ebb and flow of hopefulness. At that time, I thought we’d be well back into the Union by now, so much so we’d all be a bit sick of it again. I had hoped, too, that by this time I’d have once again lost all motivation to pull together a thoughtful look for a themed event. But while we still haven’t made it even close to either of those points I still think, that at least here at Concrete Catwalk, we’ve accomplished a lot.
From the Sustainability Week our Events team did such a fab job organizing to the incredible shoots our Stylists and Photographers have been able to put out, we’ve still been able to create content even when it didn’t seem there was much to go on. Across the board, I’ve seen our team really push themselves creatively this year like perhaps never before. The pandemic has encouraged our Photographers to be more independent and asked the Blog team to think beyond lost St Andrews traditions and TikTok trends and find inspiration in the fashion legacies of their own localities.
Last summer, I thought Concrete Catwalk had gone under entirely in the chaos that had abruptly ended the academic year, and were it not for our fearless director, Caitlin Vickers, it honestly probably would have. Cait has been such a treasure to work under this year, motivating and reminding us to press on with CC’s vision even when there didn’t seem to be much of a point in carrying on. She’s left some high heels to fill, but I also know our new director, Millie Sharples, promises to stand just as tall. Almost all of our executive team is staying on for next year, and I have such high hopes for all we’ll be able to do in person after we’ve worked so well together just on Zoom. We have the whole summer to restock our wardrobes in anticipation for what will hopefully be a normal year, and we’ve had so much time now to daydream about a real return to fashion and everything it means to us here at Concrete Catwalk. This is the last you’ll hear from me for now, but expect us all to be back in full force come September and come normality.
