All the highlights from this year’s Fashion Revolution Week

Not discouraged by a global pandemic, Fashion Revolution held a week-long showcase of over 60 global trailblazers, platforming sustainability experts, innovators, and creatives via its showcasing initiative Fashion Open Studio, which launched in 2017. The events ranged from talks with industry pioneers and DIY craft workshops to life drawing sessions, all held online in true 2020’s fashion. We rounded up the key moments from this year’s Fashion Revolution Week.

Kevin Germanier: Glorious Garbage

After debuting his eponymous label “Germanier” in 2018, the Central Saint Martins graduate’s signature upcycled glitter-strewn textiles have earned the young designer his reputation as a master of sustainable luxury.

Showcasing textile samples, toiles, and an array of garments, Germanier offered a real Fashion Open studio, giving viewers a candid introduction to his Paris-based atelier with assistance from his right-hand man Melvin Zöller. The duo revealed a unique glimpse into the inner workings of a sustainable label, sharing the process behind creating a Germanier piece and the importance of “glorious garbage and terrific trash.”

Maja Brix: Systems Change

Danish Designer Maja Brix founded her label on two principles: ambitious sustainability and design with a strong conceptual edge. Opting out of making collections, the designer focuses on a single style or series of styles, allowing individual designs to fully develop, bestowing her garments with value and longevity.

In a two-part event, Maja Brix sat down with fashion researcher Ane Lynge-Jorlén and CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week Cecilie Thorsmark, for a webinar where Maja introduced her brand and deconstructed 23 years of sustainable thinking and functional design.

Joshua Beaty: Perfection in Imperfection – Toile Drawing Workshop

Over lockdown, artist, designer and educator Joshua Beaty has brought his extra-curricular fashion smorgasbord to the masses via his immersive life drawing sessions held both in-person and via zoom. Partnering with designers and creatives including Nasir Mazhar’s “Fantastic Toiles”, Julie Verhoven, and Paul Kindersley.

In partnership with Sarabande, Joshua hosted an extra special online life drawing session, exploring the poetry of the toile; the prototype of a finished design, the stage when designers physically experiment with shape, material, and construction. Using toiles donated by Phoebe English, viewers were encouraged to deconstruct the life cycle of a garment and its environmental impact. Keep an eye on Joshua’s Instagram account to register for future life drawing sessions.

MUNAY SISTERS: The importance of organic cotton

Chilean designers Loreto and Pía Leiva founded their brand in 2018, building it on the foundations of contemporary, wearable garments which are made with ethically and locally sourced materials to ensure both the rights of workers and protection of the natural environment.

In their film: The Importance of Organic Cotton, which premiered via Fashion Open Studio, the sisters traced back the origins of the Pima Cotton used in their designs. Loreto and Pía documented the family-run farms in Peru from seed to garment and presented a refreshingly transparent exploration of their design process.

Auroboros + Yoav Hadari + Leo Carlton: Virtually Fashion

London-based tech couture house Auroboros joined with fellow tech-creators Yoav Hadari, Leo Carlton, and Moin Roberts-Islam for a mind-bending webinar discussing the impact of fashion as we move into new dimensions, whilst presenting their digitally generated couture through new and cutting edge technology which is on course to replace traditional design techniques entirely.

Phoebe English: Approaches to process and materials

One of the biggest names in sustainable design, Phoebe English has been re-inventing contemporary fashion protocols and rejecting fast fashion since she founded her eponymous label in 2011, which have earned her several British Fashion Award nominations, one of which she won in 2020 for her work on co-founding the Emergency Designer Network.

Joined by journalist and editor Tamsin Blanchard, the two world-class sustainable thinkers discussed Phoebe’s evolution as a designer, delving into her recent trials in sourcing materials and exploring natural dyes and textile development. The designer opened her studio to the masses and showcased her time-perfected approach to crafting garments that last a lifetime.

RAHEMUR RAHMAN X ARANYA the home of a natural dyer

London-born Bangladeshi designer Rahemur Rahman fuses cultural identity with fantasy in his design work, deconstructing his South-Asian heritage through artisanal craft techniques and traditional textiles, earning him the title of a craft activist.

Rahemur presented a three-part live demonstration and guided workshop on madder dye techniques and tie-dye shibori, led along with Bangladeshi artisans, offering an informative dive into textile & print techniques, sure to inspire designers and enthusiasts alike.

Watch more videos from Fashion Revolution Week here