It’s our third year of running the Better Lives lecture series and this time we’ve paired up with LCF resident psychology Dr Carolyn Mair to devise four sessions exploring Psychology’s links with Fashion.
Our focus will be on Judgment and Wellbeing.
Speakers taking part will include Cosmopolitan’s Woman of the Year 2012: Natasha Devon (Body Gossip), Dilys Williams (Director at CSF), Dr Kate Fletcher (Researcher, CSF), Frances Corner (Head of College, LCF) and Caryn Franklin MBE (Fashion Commentator).
More information is available at the following link where you can also sign up to attend any or all of the free sessions: http://betterliveslectures.eventbrite.co.uk
The Local Wisdom project will be in Melbourne this Saturday, 23 March to gather more tales and images of the creative and ingenious practices associated with using garments. This will be the final shoot of a year of touring that has included Kolding, San Francisco, London, Vancouver, New York City and Wellington and will kick start our design collaboration with students and researchers at RMIT University of Technology. More information can be found at http://localwisdom.info
Let anyone in Melbourne or Victoria know to come and share their insights with us!
We’ll be at:
The Melbourne GPO
350 Bourke Street
11am until 4pm.
What should you bring to be photographed?
Perhaps you have a garment that…
• Is easily repairable
• Is worn regularly and has never been washed (and isn’t leather!)
• Is enjoying a third, fourth or fifth life
• Surprises you each time you wear it
• Shows or tells the story of how it’s been used
• Is worn in ways that defy the producer’s values
• Is adapted over and again in order to meet changing needs
• Has interchangeable parts that can be worn in different ways
• Is shared between people
• Connects you to others
• Is worn in response to changing economic and environmental concerns
• Is made up of interchangeable pieces that can be worn in different ways
On 3rd March 2013, Dilys Williams, Director Centre for Sustainable Fashion, and Lainey Sheridan-Young, Natalie Theo, Rosanna Falconer and Lou Stoppard met to discuss the Kenzo Womenswear AW13 catwalk show in London.
The brand, launched in 1970 by Japanese-born designer Kenzo Takada, has undergone a complete transformation in the last two years since Opening Ceremony founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim were appointed as the new creative directors in 2011. As Rosanna Falconer, Head of Digital at Matthew Williamson said, this has given a unique opportunity to revive the brand through developing successful collections from a buyer’s perspective.
Dilys was able to bring a unique viewpoint to the discussion, sharing ideas about the relationship between designer, product, and wearer, and the new role of the designer.
“The role of the designer in communicating something that has often been very personal has really changed, and a lot of new designers are really understanding the importance of communicating as part of the creativity… it’s part of the creative process and I think you see that with these guys [Kenzo].”
When asked about the culture of the ‘It’ piece, Dilys observed that “people aim to create an identity to their work which is something that goes beyond just the cut and the make of it, the whole ethos of their brand.”
Dilys perfectly summed up the show when she said “fashion is an intuitive thing, it’s not a mathematical process.”
“They’ve brought together great people working with them and hopefully that’s what will keep it looking fresh all the time.”
You can find out out more about the show and the day here.
On 24th January 2013, LCF hosted a ‘Dinner of Ideas’ that staff at CSF had dreamt up and organised.
This was an event intentionally without agenda and over a meal, allowing the invited research community from across University of the Arts London to steer their own conversations. They were asked only to consider one thing: what can we as researchers offer the world?
The dining tables were decorated with spot and cross pattern paper on which elements of the ensuing conversation could be documented. The event opened up opportunities to shape future projects by connecting like minded individuals.
Thank you to everyone that took an evening out of their time to road test this novel way to choreograph interactions across UAL! Its success has led to talk of making such informal discussions a regular occurrence within the research calendar.
Marks & Spencer and Oxfam are opening a two-day pop-up charity store in the M&S flagship store at Marble Arch, for 24-25 January. The pop-up shop will offer the public a chance to buy rare vintage M&S pieces as well as clothing donated by celebrities simple by ‘shwopping’ an item of their own. ‘Shwopping’ is a concept derived by M&S and Oxfam to encourage people to donate or ‘gift’ unwanted clothing that will go on to be re-used, transformed or recycled. Sarah Farquhar, Head of Retail Brand for Oxfam, said:
“Oxfam shops are full of hidden treasures and we have regular shoppers who turn up week in week out to get their hands on the latest donations. But this time we are doing the rummaging for them; bringing the best of the shwopped items we have received over the last few months plus exciting celebrity donations straight to the public instead. It will be really exciting to see people browsing Oxfam clothing in the middle of an M&S store.”
CSF and M&S installation ‘Beautiful Layers’
In support of the ‘Gift Away, Don’t Throw Away’ campaign the Centre for Sustainable Fashion has created three installations for the M&S Shwop Shop which can be found on display inside the Marble Arch store now. The three installations; ‘Transformation’, ‘Beautiful Layers’ and ‘Gift it Away’ are designed to encourage a new culture of ‘gifting away’ instead of throwing away, to draw on existing resources instead of wasting limited ones. You can see these installations in the Marble Arch store from today until January 25. Donators who visit the Shwop Shop will be able to tell the story around their gifted item and throughout the two days a tweeter in residence will be capturing the stories behind the clothes and broadcasting them via @shwopping.
The Local Wisdom project arrives in Canada and New York this month kicking off our projects with The Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Parsons The New School for Design. If you are in either of these locations please do take this opportunity to contribute to the project by telling the story of how you use your clothes and be photographed wearing your garment. See below for dates, times and locations.
Vancouver
Saturday 19 January 2013
10:00am – 4:00pm
1399 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 3RN
New York
Saturday 26 January 2013
10:00am – 4:00pm
2 West 13th Street (Corner of 5th Avenue)
New York, NY 10011
What should you bring to be photographed? Perhaps you have a garment that is…• Is easily repairable
• Is worn regularly and has never been washed (and isn’t leather!)
• Is enjoying a third, fourth or fifth life
• Surprises you each time you wear it
• Shows or tells the story of how it’s been used
• Is worn in ways that defy the producer’s values
• Is adapted over and again in order to meet changing needs
• Has interchangeable parts that can be worn in different ways
• Is shared between people
• Connects you to others
• Is worn in response to changing economic and environmental concerns
• Is made up of interchangeable pieces that can be worn in different ways
We are delighted to invite you to UAL’s Research Degrees Open Evening 2013!
Hosted by University of the Arts London, this is taking place at London College of Fashion on the 29th of January 2013 from 18:15 – 20:15.
It is an opportunity to find out more about the degrees offered across the six colleges whilst meeting staff and students involved with the research degree programme.
Cross-discipline collaborations, people and ecology centred thinking, design practice and artistic communication underpin CSF’s thinking and are inherent in our innovative working methods.
Current PhD students cross a number of boundaries including working in relation to design for lower impact in clothes maintenance, design for longevity and clothing with embedded technology related to wellbeing.
Location: Rootstein Hopkins Space (Centre + East), London College of Fashion, 20 John Princes Street, London W1G 0BJ
If you would like to attend to find out more, please RSVP to: researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk
Ethical fashion and art collective Conquer Gear is a diverse collective of artists and imaginers fronted by Sebastian Stobbs and Tomoya Hiramatsu creating a wide range of innovative and provocative design across different mediums – everything relating to the printed image and written word – fashion, film, photography, art. The company has a strict ethical policy supporting the Environmental Justice Foundation’s Clean Cotton Campaign and all cotton fabrics are clearly labelled with country of origin.
They have created a special Pop Up shop featuring a capsule collection of clothing, an exclusive photographic exhibition and curated range of crafts in Sydenham, running until Christmas Eve. Local residents and Londoners are fast spreading the news, with John Malkovich becoming a recent fan and an editorial magazine feature on ethical fashion coming up early next year.
Conquer’s Wardrobe was launched through The Shop Revolution, a high impact project that aims to bring empty units back into use and interest to the high street through the introduction of pop up shops. This project is one of three strands of the South London SEE3 Portas Pilot Project.
Regular Friday evening events and activities until 9pm throughout the Pop Up period.
A special event will be held on Friday 21st December at 7pm with a special 45 minute acoustic set from Mishaped Pearls.
On the day of the launch, Saturday December 1st, Sebastian Stobbs was amazed by the response and said: “It was over in a second, everyone coming into the shop had enormous enthusiasm for what was trying to be achieved in their community. We didn’t stop chatting with people all day long. It was just so nice to see how many people had come out to join in.”
The course was developed by the Centre in 2008 as a key facet of the Centre’s work towards fostering sustainability throughout education, and promoting dialogue between forward-thinking students and experienced practitioners, in order to challenge society’s idea of fashion and relationships with the world around us.
Image: Ivan Dauritz, MA Fashion & the Environment
The MA course added to the lively discussion around ‘What is the Role of Fashion Education in our Changing World?’, during the first Design for Sustainability Educators Network Event, hosted at the London College of Fashion on Tuesday 5th December, where graduates from the course were able to contribute their own experiences and journey on the MA course.
You can find out more about the Source Awards on Twitter by searching #SourceAwards
You can track commentary and join in the debate about Fashion Education on Twitter by searching #TransformFashion
Our researchers often receive requests for their time/advice – but struggle to find the time to answer them all. We’ve therefore scheduled in some opportunities during our Open Mornings for students to make appointments in advance.
Whether you wish to meet in person, discuss something via Skype or receive answers via email from Sandy, Kate, Helen, Dilys or Lucy in advance, their availabilities at the ‘Salon for Students’ are listed on the schedule below:
4th January 2013 – Helen Storey
1st February 2013 – Sandy Black
1st March 2013 – Dilys Williams
5th April 2013 – Helen Storey
1st May 2013 – Kate Fletcher
7th June 2013 – Dilys Williams
3rd July 2013 – Lucy Orta
2nd August 2013 – Helen Storey
Our Open Mornings take place in the Centre for Sustainable Fashion library at 20 John Princes Street. They are usually held on the first Friday of every month – although we’ve had to move two to Wednesday to best fit our researchers’ schedules.
Scheduling an appointment is essential, whether you would like time to speak with one of the experts or merely browse our wide selection of fashion sustainability texts. Please send an email to sustainability@fashion.arts.ac.uk if you wish to attend.
