RUNWAY 2026: AMPLIFY

 

This year, RUNWAY dares us to go louder—with our values, our vision, and our voices.

 

AMPLIFY invites Buffalo State University’s designers and community to channel fashion as an instrument of expression, advocacy, and transformation.

 

At the heart of AMPLIFY is a simple, yet powerful belief:
In doing something for others, we discover more of ourselves.

 

Inspired by a new wave of social innovation—where giving back becomes a gateway to growth—RUNWAY 2026 asks students to partner with nonprofits that align with their personal identity and purpose. These partnerships are not symbolic—they are active collaborations that place students in the field, in the community, and in the service of something greater than themselves.

 

From planting trees to supporting youth empowerment, from food access to LGBTQ+ rights—each designer selects a mission and amplifies it through fashion.

 

The runway becomes a stage for impact, where every look is a story. Each garment becomes a visual echo of lived experience.
Each stitch, a step toward visibility, empathy, and change.

 

This focus encourages students and audiences alike to reflect on how creative expression can ripple outward—beyond the sketchbook, beyond the garment—into classrooms, neighborhoods, nonprofits, and movements that need amplification. It challenges our entire community to ask:

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What do I stand for? And how can I show up for it in real life (IRL)?

 

AMPLIFY celebrates not just what fashion looks like, but what it can do. 
It transforms design from an individual pursuit into a collective force for good. It gives new shape to service, new voice to storytelling, and new purpose to the runway itself.

 

This year’s show honors the student designer as changemaker, as storyteller, and as bridge-builder. It reframes the act of “earning” visibility—not through status, but through service.

 

Because in 2026, the runway is not just a place to be seen. It’s a place to be of use.

 

RUNWAY continues its tradition of fashion as a transformative medium—a mirror to identity, a megaphone for justice, and a call to action for a more conscious, connected future.

 

Together, we create.
 Together, we serve.
 Together, we amplify.

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Buffalo State Foundation Scholarship Gala x
RUNWAY 2026: AMPLIFY
Presented by New Era Cap Foundation
Saturday, April 25, 5-9 pm

Buffalo State University Sports Arena