April 29, 2013

International – USA

Building on our International theme this month I have asked Alex McIntosh, Business and Research Manager at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion here at the college to tell us about an exciting project we have been involved in.

“Last week the Launch 2020 summit took place at Nike HQ in Portland Oregon; Launch is a somewhat unlikely but high-powered partnership between Nike, NASA, USAID and the US State Department. The summit brought together one hundred and fifty carefully selected delegates from fashion brands, garment manufacturers, chemical companies, NGOs and universities. Everyone congregated in the Tiger Woods Convention Centre at the Nike Campus to explore the collaborations and innovations required to change the materials system, ensuring that every fabric used in clothing and beyond is designed and produced sustainably.

Launch 2020 was also an important milestone in an ongoing partnership between Nike and LCF and in recognition of this partnership fifteen places at the summit were allocated to LCF representatives. The college contingent included members of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion team, designers from our business support programme and recent graduates from a variety of courses.

London College of Fashion have been working with Nike for the last eighteen months on a project known as Mobilize Makers, bringing the Nike Materials Sustainability Index (eight years of carefully collated data) to life through a simple, iteractive and visually inspiring digital design tool. The tool will help designers to make informed decisions about the fabrics and components they use in their products, and encourages sustainable innovation throughout the design process.

The College’s involvement in Mobilize Makers came about through a chance meeting with Nike in November 2011, one might say a meeting of minds, in which a shared commitment to driving systemic change across the fashion and textiles industries came to light. In May 2012 consultants from the Centre for Sustainable Fashion and a select group of designers, including Christopher Raeburn, Matthew Miller, Michelle Lowe-Holder and Alina Moat went to Portland to participate in a three-day hackathon. The hackathon aimed to deliver a prototype tool ready for user testing by LCF students and recent graduates. Over the summer eight teams were selected to work with the tool through a series of design projects, each one inspired by a different sport. Alina, Christopher, Matthew, and Michelle were tasked with mentoring the teams.

Final year students from the Design and Technology, Media and Communication and School of Management and Science worked on the project, making it one of the first ever cross college collaborations. The teams each produced a series of prototype garments, which they presented to a panel from Nike in September 2012. After receiving feedback each team developed one final look made with the support and expertise of the LCF technical team.

The Centre for Sustainable Fashion also worked with each team to collate a book bringing to life their journey and outlining the, inspiration, insights and innovation that typified each individual concept. One representative from each team was selected by Nike to attend Launch 2020 and their work formed the centrepiece of an exhibition that accompanied the summit. It was huge pleasure to see the interest and intrigue elicited by our work and it served as a fitting reminder of the significant role education has to play in equipping designers with both the skills and thought processes required to tackle the major challenges of the future.

It was truly amazing to be in a room where the voices of our recent graduates were given equal relevance and space as those of chemical company CEOs and Nike Vice Presidents. Some of the highlights of the summit included astronaut Ron Garran talking about the six months he spent orbiting the globe on a space station and sharing his unique physical and a metaphysical view of the world; what he has achieved in space and on earth is awe inspiring. Joan Benoit, the first woman to win gold in an Olympic marathon, was another hugely inspiring speaker, at 55 she still runs 70 miles a week and is an avid campaigner for environmental issues.

We all left with a determination to recognise and respect the finite resources of our planet but at the same time remembering that there is no limit to human ingenuity; when we work together we can apply our collective intelligence and intuition to make better and to live better.”

Images: Kerry Dean

April 22, 2013

“Pure creativity draws on something which is already there; it moves from one space to another and the creative act is that movement”

Hall and Maharaj. 2001

April 19, 2013

St. Pancras as a Fashionable Environment

I’d like to share with you the work of one of our professors here at the college.

Professor of Fashion and Environment, Lucy Orta has a new installation at St. Pancras. With her husband, she has created Cloud: Meteoros which is the first commission in a new series ‘Terrace Wires’ at St.Pancras.

“Clouds have long been intercessors between reality and the imagination, between heaven and earth, lightness and gravity. They inhabit the skies of Renaissance fresco paintings, often depicted crowded with laymen and prophets, angels and deities. Throughout history, this celestial vault has been a site of conviviality, of learning and exchange.”

Studio Orta.

April 12, 2013

Layer by Layer – The 3D Printer

I had a chance to see some of the digital printing today as part of the Layer by Layer Exhibition at Fashion Space Gallery.

This piece is a half printed sample of work created by Silvia Weidenbach. You can see the printers’s work, layer by layer.

This piece is designed using free form modelling which involved ‘hand’ modelling a virtual object uing a device called a haptic arm. Silvias work, on display in the exhibition until 18 May 2013, is a perfect example of how this techology can be used to create lush organic shapes.

The file is uploaded to Replicator G software where it is converted into G code and sent to print. The work is then printed, in this case, with a Makerbot Replicator 2 desktop 3D Printer.

The 3D printer works by heating up plastic filament stored on a spool and passing it through an extruder. Similar to an inkjet printer, the Makerbot draws the digial file on the build platform one layer at a time.

Layer by Layer is open until 18 May 2013 as Fashion Space Gallery.

April 9, 2013

Layer by Layer

Layer by Layer opens tonight and is the first of a two-part series of exhibitions exploring digital print in fashion.

This exhibition, which focuses on 3D printing and its potential as a tool for design, is very exciting and thought provoking.

By outlining some of the processes, materials and applications of 3D printing, the exhibition demystifies the processes used to create these innovative designs and opens the door for our creative imaginations to consider the possible uses of this technology.

Marla Marchant. MA Fashion Footwear

The exhibition continues until 18 May 2013.

Fashion Space Gallery

April 8, 2013

International – Shanghai

I’m looking forward to next week when I will be travelling to Shanghai as a guest of Donghua University to give a presentation on fashion and the environment at the 19th International Fashion Forum of the 2013 Shanghai International Fashion Festival.

To celebrate our international theme and following on from last months focus on International Women, I would like to share the work of one of our MA Fashion Media Production Students.

Coco Lingzhi Zhao. MA Fashion Media Production

International – Los Angeles

I’m here in Los Angeles this week for the annual International Federation of Fashion Institutions (IFFTI) conference. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) are hosting the event.

Founded in 1999 IFFTI’s mission is to develop a global network of institutions recognized as leaders in the advancement of education in Design, Technology and Business for fashion and its related industries through international collaboration.

So I was pleased to learn that some of our Alumni are showcasing their work here in Los Angeles this spring.

Women – My Inspiration

Smoke and Mirrors – Frida Kahlo’s Dresses. An Exhibition Museo Frida Kahlo.

This exhibition is curated by Circe Henestrosa, a fashion curator who holds an M.A. in Fashion Curation from London College of Fashion. Circe was awarded a Distinction for her research thesis and exhibition: “Frida’s White Cabinet”, an exhibition of artist Frida Kahlo’s wardrobe which was presented at the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City in November 2012.

Frida Kahlo’s work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists worldwide for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds.

Frida Khalo has inspired me throughout my professional career. Her vibrant uncompromising imagery, her political commitment and sense of who she was have been a constant source of inspiration to me and encouraged my lifelong commitment to feminism.

The Museo Frida Kahlo has interviewed LCF’s Judith Clark, Professor of Fashion and Museology about the exhibition.

Women – Voices

To celebrate International Women’s Day this month I though it would be an idea to share the opinions of my female colleagues here. Dr Djurdja Bartlett is a Senior Research Fellow here at London College of Fashion.

I asked Djurdja how she spent International Womens Day this year…

“On my way to the library of the Museum of the Decorative Arts during my recent AHRC-funded research trip to Paris, I saw at least ten women walking with a single rose on a stem. It was a nice, uplifting sight, but, with my thoughts dedicated to my research, I did not dwell on why I enjoyed that sight just on that specific day, although I had walked the same route, from my rented flat to the Library, every day. Additionally, that was a very busy time for me, as I also planned to attend a lecture on the French couturière Jeanne Paquin, taking place at the Archives of Paris on the same day at 5pm. I have been interested in Paquin’s work, as she collaborated with Leon Bakst on the costumes for the Ballets Russes’ ballet Jeux in 1913, designed a collection with Bakst in the same year, and had a Russian apprentice Anna Gindus, who turned into one of the leading high fashion designers in St Petersburg in the 1910s. Later, on my way to the lecture, I spotted more rose-clutching women, and upon my arrival at the Archives of Paris, I was given a beautiful pink rose myself.

I knew, of course, that it was the 8th of March, but only then I realized that all these roses, and the lecture itself, were dedicated to International Women’s Day. With a socialist government in power at the moment, no wonder that the French celebrated International Women’s Day. Yet, they did it the French way, with a lecture about an haute couture designer given by Dominique Sirop, another couturier and the author of a well-researched book on Paquin. It made me think about International Women’s Day, its history and its meaning.

Clara Zetkin. 1910

As industrialization changed the fabric of society and many women entered factories at the beginning of the twentieth century, their rights, as well as their battles against appalling working conditions, emerged as an important socio-political issue. Initiated in 1911 by one of the leaders of the German Social Democratic Party, Clara Zetkin, International Women’s Day was an offshoot of the increased unrest amongst female workers at that time.

Rosa Luxemburg. 1910

These thoughts brought back the images of those brave women – Clara Zetkin and her co-party member and confidante, Rosa Luxemburg – in their long skirts and body-hugging jackets, beneath which they wore delicately embroidered blouses. While certainly not designed by Paquin, their outfits belonged to the same respectful and feminine style, which did not prevent them from acting as dedicated revolutionaries.

Alexandra Kollontai in fur coat and hat. 1910

But fashion and revolution were not going to become true comrades. Following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Zetkin’s Russian counterpart, and one of Lenin’s closest collaborators, Alexandra Kollontai, was shunned by her comrades because of her good looks, her smart dresses and her sexually liberated views. This made me wonder, once again, why the Left historically has had such a hostile relationship to fashion. Returning to my rented flat with my own rose one hour later, I appreciated even more the French celebrating Women’s International Day with a lecture on haute couture. I thought to myself: actually it might have been a highly political statement.”

Frances Corner