“There haven’t been many fashion and editorial opportunities on campus,” she said. “I have experience in English and in business, and I had internships in both, but I didn’t have any internships in magazine editorial, and fashion editorial. To get into the fashion editorial field, you need experience in fashion. So that’s why I was like, okay, let me create my own fashion magazine.” 

Williams came up with the idea of “Fashion Court” after seeing The Pink Courtroom—a Judge Judy-style YouTube show with a Love Island host—on TikTok. She then had the idea to make it her own and incorporate other ideas, like those from the show Pose. She wanted to include a creative aspect to the event, while also allowing the crowd to participate openly.  

“I’m usually super hands-on with everything, but I wanted this to be like improv,” Williams said. “The whole time I was sitting there like, wow, these are my members. I’ve never seen this side of them. It was hilarious.” 

One of the defendants, Nodea Sewell, is a higher education administration master’s student. Her style is like that of Hilary Banks from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” She said that she mostly likes to wear athletic clothes or streetwear when she’s not dressing up, but is now looking to transition her style into looking more girly. 

“I’m a very like relaxed kind of person,” Sewell said. “Eight out of 10 times, you will find me in workout clothes or something comfortable. This is bringing me out of my box and helping me find my confidence. The club lets us express ourselves. Everybody can do their own thing and express themselves their own way through their looks in fashion.” 

Charles James, a junior dual major in computer science and mass communication, is the writing team lead for the magazine. He said he aims to highlight diverse voices in the fashion magazine. 

“I get to really highlight my writers’ voices. I’ve always loved writing. I haven’t always loved reading, but working as a team lead, I’ve learned to love writing a lot more as I’ve edited articles. I’ve gotten to see their inspiration, vision and really see the whole process,” James said. 

Each magazine issue has its own designated theme. James takes the theme, brainstorms article ideas and then lets his team of writers go from there and include their input. He said his favorite part of working on the magazine is how much fun the group has, and the different styles and voices that get brought together among them. 

“We’re literally just a collective of a whole bunch of creatives and everybody has their own styles. They have their own different views, different aspirations. And it’s just the way that we tie it all together,” James said. 

The next issue of the magazine is to be published on Monday. It is a mini-issue themed around Black History Month. 

“When you get into a major and you’re in school for a long time you kind of forget like what you’re in school for,” Williams said. “What your dream was, and what your goals were, and why you enjoy what you do. I wanted to rekindle that.”