Teaching Gen Alpha: From style to Catwalk

Taylor Swift once sang “I feel so high school” — and suddenly I understood exactly what she meant. Walking into a classroom full of teenagers, carrying their dreams, doubts, and unlimited energy, I felt it too.

Over the past weeks, I’ve started teaching my self-developed program “From Style to Catwalk.” It’s a journey of seven weeks where students learn what it takes to build a fashion brand: from creating moodboards and defining their target audience, to developing a concept and presenting their vision.

But more than that, it’s about giving space.
Space to dream.
Space to express.
Space to discover who you are and how style can be a mirror of the inside.

In my first classes we began with blank pages and hesitant voices. “I don’t have a favourite brand,” some said. Yet within an hour, those same students were eagerly sharing their moodboards, filled with colours, shapes, and stories of who they want to become. One wanted to design for children. Another simply asked: “Can I leave white space on my board?” As my goal is always development of inspiration and selfreflection, I love these casual check ins, because they reveal the beginning of personal taste.

Guiding Gen Alpha means more than teaching about fashion. It’s about listening to what isn’t said, encouraging what wants to be expressed, and showing them that creativity is not about perfection but about courage.

By the end of the lesson, the classroom had transformed. From silence to laughter, from insecurity to pride, from “I don’t know” to “this is me.”

And in those moments, I realise: teaching fashion is not about clothing at all. It’s about empowerment, identity, and giving young people the confidence to take their first steps on their own catwalk.