The Fringe offers opportunities for a variety of behind the scenes folks that are a part of making shows happen. I met Si Chen on the train to Edinburgh. She is from Northern China but currently a fashion design student in a graduate program at the University of London. She designed and sewed beautiful costumes for a small group of dancers performing an original dance and storytelling show at the fringe called Chaos. Her friend who created and choreographed the experimental piece chose to use dance as the international language to share traditional Chinese stories. The show only performs a couple of days with today being the last day (today at 18:30). Si explained that space is expensive, especially as a student, but the experience is still worthy.
Like the show, her designs of the long flowing lavender colored skirts add a contemporary look to traditional Chinese designs. This is a perfect fit for Si as her personal interest in fashion is creating modern twists to traditional Chinese dress. She showed me a photo of a luncheon with friends who share a similar interest and each woman was wearing beautiful dresses that reflected six different Chinese dynasties and their stories. For Si, the Fringe provides her a professional opportunity to share and display her designs with an international audience, and help her student friends with their artistic projects.