Why the world needs self-expression now more than ever

When I created the Fluidity Fashion Show my sophomore year, I wanted to create something transformative for everyone—the audience, obviously, but also everyone behind the scenes. The models, the stylists, the designers, everyone else who has been part of this process, anyone who’s witnessed it. I wanted to create something unforgettable.

How’s a 22-year-old college girl gonna do that?

Well, I’m not just a 22-year-old college girl. I’m Caley Heart Dever ’26.

I think this fashion show means a lot more to me than I ever thought it would. The first year, it was so new and exciting—it was the first time I realized an event could truly be an experience that people take with them.

We shifted from the idea of gender and sexuality education to focusing on what that actually looks like: self-expression. Now I’m trying to think about what the world needs to hear right now. How can I give an experience that people need but don’t even realize they need?

We’re here in Santa Clara, in this bubble, but I barely know anyone who is truly at peace with worldly events. This is something I’m approaching with so much care and attention. I’m asking myself all of these questions: Why do people need an experience like this? What makes Fluidity necessary, in this time, in this place, with this community, with these specific people and these specific collections?

And one question just rings in my mind, because we’re in an age where so much is changing, and I feel like it’s so easy to lose track of who we are. We have to make space to reflect on who we want to be, how we want to show up for others, and how we want to show up for ourselves.

I guess what I’m asking is: what does it mean to be human?

I can’t answer for all of humanity. I don’t know all of humanity. But, to be human is to be me, and to be able to express that as authentically as I possibly can.

Creative expression is so incredibly valuable because it happens everywhere, all the time—in every person who exists, every campus flyer, every painting on the cafeteria wall, every phone home screen, every t-shirt design from a student org. It is so central to human life, and I feel like it’s not talked about enough. We don’t give it as much credit as we should. Art is so beautiful. What is humanity without art?

We’re all human, but in some way or another, every single one of us has felt outcast, somehow, in some way. Is it also human to feel othered, to feel like you don’t belong? To feel like you’re an alien? I’d say yeah, because it’s a relatable experience.

Life is beautiful. So many things need to be changed, have to be changed. But that’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it will go on. So how can we live with purpose through that?

Your purpose doesn’t have to be one singular point. Fluidity is not my singular point, but I know it’s my purpose right now, in this moment, to lead this project with everything I have. This is something only I can do right now.

What is something only you can do right now for your community and for the people that you love?

It’s overwhelming to think about all the things you could be doing, should be doing, to improve humanity. I feel like with our generation specifically, there’s this pressure to fix things. But to me, it is so much more valuable to have a huge, significant impact on a smaller scale than to spend so much time and stress trying to figure out how to change the world.

And I ask myself: Is that selfish, to really only help the people that I care about? I don’t know. I care about the people in my community and my life, and I will do whatever I can to protect them. But outside of that, the world is so vast and big. I think if we all do our part, and we all find little moments to give and to care and to love, the world would be taken care of.

So what does it mean to be human?

It means you just have to be you.

And that’s more than enough.