When Sarah Grace Simas was offered the chance to have her work shown in a fashion show in Scotland, she couldn’t say no. After creating a collection of hardware-embellished pieces in a matter of months, she travelled to Scotland to attend the DONT WALK 2026 Charity Fashion Show and see her work on the stage.

This year, the proceeds from DONT WALK benefitted World Central Kitchen and Everyone’s Invited. The organization is run by students at the University of St. Andrews and has been covered in Vogue and CR Fashion Book. The show features international student designers from world-renowned schools like Parsons, Polimoda and Central Saint Martins.

Saying “Yes”

How does a junior at NC State get a collection shown in Scotland? For Simas, a connection from high school reached out after seeing her work on Instagram and asked if she would be interested in the show. 

Simas jumped at the chance to design a new collection for the show, starting her work in September. She created a collection of six pieces on top of her regular coursework in the Wilson College of Textiles. Her experience designing for the African American Textile Society Fashion Exposé the previous spring prepared her for the workload. Plus, she says, her teachers made sure she got extra support when she needed it.

“The support from teachers and everyone at Wilson in general was really incredible,” Simas says. “The general knowledge from my pattern-making and draping classes definitely came in handy.”

Simas’ education at the Wilson College in fashion and textile design involves a combination of technical design processes and fiber science. With a concentration in fashion design, she is also regularly in studio classes and creating clothes from scratch. 

Though the time crunch was a challenge, Simas completed the outfits by December, when she shipped them off to be used in promotional materials for the show. 

Benefitting Abroad

Simas is studying abroad in Paris this spring semester at the Parsons School of Design. Having studied abroad for a few weeks in London already, she knew she wanted to spend a semester somewhere non-English speaking. Parsons was already a dream school for Simas, so the stars aligned perfectly.

“Paris is the place-to-be for fashion. Since I’ve been here, I’ve gotten to experience two fashion weeks, which has been really incredible to be around,” Simas says.

For the DONT WALK show, Simas went to Scotland for three days, during which she says she got to sit back and enjoy the ride. Most facets of production were handled by the staff at DONT WALK, including coordinating models and choreography.

“There were a lot of dances,” Simas says. “It wasn’t a simple walk down the runway, turn and walk back. It  involved models walking in groups and doing choreography the whole time.The whole thing was about an hour and a half long.”

The show was held near St. Andrews, Scotland, and was mostly attended by students and corporate partners. Simas says she felt a little intimidated by the crowd, but she was so impressed by the show’s production and honored to be a part of it.

“It was very surreal seeing my designs. It was definitely the first time I’ve ever done a show of that scale,” Simas says.

Simas’ main goal with her designs was to take an unconventional approach to her use of materials. She incorporated hardware, metal and crystals into the outfits to push herself in a new aesthetic direction, while still using tried-and-true methods like hand beading. 

Seeing her work as a part of a larger showcase and live experience, especially one benefiting charity, was a special experience, Simas says. Simas is back in Paris continuing her education at the Parsons School, and will return to the Wilson College in the fall.

See Simas’ Scotland collection and other recent designs here.