In close collaboration with its curator-team, consisting of Fashion Open Studio and NOT____ENOUGH collective, State of Fashion wants to find alternatives for this system, which perpetuates inequality by choosing one specific perspective and interest over many others. There are countless ways of practicing fashion that are not yet recognized in the mainstream. How do we create space for different fashion systems to co-exist? A society that cares is a society prepared for repairs,’ states the team. They invite everyone to take part in their interventions: from repairing clothing to redesigning dysfunctional systems together.
Now in its fifth year, Fashion Open Studio is a Fashion Revolution initiative working with designers and service creators to challenge the mainstream and champion the radicals. With an annual programme of workshops, studio visits, peer to peer exchanges and technical demonstrations, as well as bespoke mentoring, and fashion week interventions, Fashion Open Studio has created a unique ecosystem of designers around the world who are connected by the desire to challenge the entire fashion system, from organic cotton seed to repair station. Fashion Open Studio highlights innovative new ideas and solutions to the systemic challenges facing the industry in accessible ways that stimulate questions and discussion and promote new business models.
Fashion Revolution is the world’s largest fashion activism movement, formed after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013 which killed over 1,100 people. Fashion Revolution campaigns for a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry through research, education, collaboration, mobilisation and advocating for policy change. Fashion Revolution is a global movement with country offices and voluntary teams in 90 countries. Fashion Revolution believes in a global fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit. In order to achieve this goal, the organisation conducts research that shines a light on the fashion industry’s practices and impacts, highlights where brands and retailers are moving too slowly and incentivises and promotes transparency and accountability across the supply chain.
Orsola de Castro is an internationally recognised opinion leader in sustainable fashion. Her career started as a designer with the pioneering upcycling label From Somewhere, which she launched in 1997 until 2014. Her designer collaborations include collections for Jigsaw, Speedo, and 4 best selling capsule collections for Topshop from 2012 to 2014. In 2006, she co-founded the British Fashion Council initiative Estethica at London Fashion Week, which she curated until 2014. In 2013, with Carry Somers, she founded Fashion Revolution, a global campaign with participation in over 90 countries around the world. Orsola is a regular keynote speaker and mentor, Associate Lecturer at UAL, as well as Central Saint Martins Visiting Fellow. Orsola’s first book “Loved Clothes Last” was published by Penguin Life in 2021, in Italy by Corbaccio Editore and in France by Edition Marabou.
Filippo Ricci started working life as an assistant director in theatre and then moved to the movie and broadcasting industry. Here, he worked as producer and AD several years, until he joined his wife and business partner Orsola de Castro as Managing Director for the pioneering up-cycling fashion label From Somewhere.He then went to co-found, alongside the British Fashion Council, Estethica at London Fashion Week, the first international showcasing platform devoted to showcase and support sustainable brands, and then Reclaim To Wear, a consultancy dedicated to sharing up-cycling solutions with the industry and academia. Filippo joined the Fashion Revolution team as Programme and Partnerships Manager for Fashion Open Studio.
Tamsin Blanchard is a fashion journalist and editor with more than 20 years experience working for media such as the Independent, the Observer and the Telegraph Magazine. She has written several books including ‘Fashion & Graphics’ (Laurence King) and ‘Green is the New Black – How to Change the World with Style’ (Hodder & Stoughton). She contributes to the Guardian, Vogue, 10 and The Gentlewoman, and is editor of independent magazine Hole & Corner. Her interest in sustainability and social responsibility in the fashion industry has developed over her career and has become integral to her work as a journalist and a campaigner. She joined the Fashion Revolution team in 2015, and is a member of the Senior Management Team. Since 2017, she has been the curator of Fashion Open Studio.
Niamh Tuft – GLOBAL NETWORK MANAGER FASHION REVOLUTION
Niamh Tuft has a background in fashion history and curation. She worked in fashion programming for the British Council for seven years. Here, she led the International Fashion Showcase – a project which showcases and supports emerging designers from over 70 countries during London Fashion Week – and created strategic programmes such as Fashion DNA, which aims to support fashion ecosystems across the world to develop business support and creative opportunities for local designers. Her work encompassed architecture, design and fashion and intersected with disciplines across arts and culture. Prior to joining the British Council, Niamh worked with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion as a freelance curator, with the National Trust as a Young Curator and across a variety of cultural exhibitions and arts projects.
