PERMANENCE

Per

ma

nen

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COVER

350gsm Colorplan Gravure

PAPER Splendorgel

BINDING SIZE

210mm x 265mm

FONTS Circular Std Futura PT Volkhov Minion Pro

Screw Post Binding Two holes drilled in covers and text and bound with binding screws

PAGE COUNT PRINTING

28

HP Indigo Digital

FINISHING Trim, Score, Fold

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THINK PIECE

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY words MARGOT VAN TONDER

The practice of fashion is what I spent four years of my English life pursuing and avidly learning. I chose to come to the United Kingdom, to learn something different and to hopefully obtain a skillset different to that of my home town (South Africa). Throughout those four years of hard work, it became evident that my focus was not in garment construction but instead the digital development of fashion, whether it appeared in a form of a book or later a curated graduate stand. To be so passionately involved in the digital element of fashion, I was and have been regularly updating and trying to move ahead of time, just to ensure I remain applicable and desired. In this momentous cycle, one begins to question the manner in which we appreciate or even notice the formation of our products and whether their life-cycles are sustainable.

After graduating, I had high hopes for my digital aspirations, but in coming home the reality of earning a living was evident, and I had to begin my career somewhere. As

much as I hoped to be a thriving member of an innovative online team, I begun working for a supplying agency to large retail groups around my country and now most recently international retail groups. My role is to work closely with digital teams to form ranges and later we outsource our manufacturing in China. The position is pressure filled and fast paced, where fashion has to sell at a rapid rate and instant gratification is most necessary. It is natural to question why one would be attracted to a position as such?

My attraction has become very simple: a circular economy has to be implemented.

My millennial generation no longer see sustainability as a task but instead vital in building a promising and more mindful future.

The action of generating a sustainable fashion cycle comes at a cost but can be done in small stages. Stages that are worked hard for and appreciated. It is very clear that mass consumerism has left a large sector of fashion under appreciated and actually: under utilised.

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

A circular economy is what avoids the pressure to get from A to B but instead pursues a circular alphabet, where life-cycles are regenerated from one another and a far greater story is shared.

My efforts in trying to pursue this outlook may be far sighted and unobtainable as I write this, but I feel if a minor mechanisation is put into place in my line of work, a difference will be made. Mass consumerism is a part of my life and your life, it’s what provides competitive pricing and instant desires granted. As harsh as that comes across, that is what ‘affordable’ fashion is today.

It is teams like MUD jeans who bring a story and a lot of hope to the table, where recycled processes/ life-cycles are giving denim more than just wearable use. Their product does not

have a life-cycle, but is a continuous cycle of regeneration and reformation. Scandinavian design house Filippa K brings an aesthetic to ‘second life clothes’. Familiar brands like Adidas or Levi’s bring more familiarity to the subject of a circular economy, and I urge these brands to bring light to other pioneers striving for the same goal.

My career is so different to what I would have anticipated after receiving my qualification, and in many ways has opened my eyes to the core issues we are facing within the industry. This position has in some way made my life more circular, where my attention is less focused on the instant success and where my choices will be effective enough to be reused and redesigned to promote longevity and ultimately sustainability.

five

EMERGING DESIGNER

questions

for emerging designer

luke

wharton

LUKE WHARTON, MENSWEAR DESIGNER, AGE 24, ARTS UNIVERSITY BOURNEMOUTH

[01]

How did you get into fashion?

As a child I always expressed myself in a creative way. Whether it was producing arts and crafts in my bedroom or using style as a way to symbolise myself. I started taking my creativity more seriously by studying visual arts after leaving school, and for the first time, I felt surrounded by people who felt the same way I did. Throughout my studies I experimented with my personal style and developed a natural enthusiasm for fashion and a growing interest in the industry, which led me to study menswear at university. It is innovative and thought-provoking designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Vivienne Westwood, as well as conceptual and exciting fresh brands like Agi and Sam and Matthew Miller, that have had a big impact on me as a designer. As they have inspired me to challenge ideas on culture and society, and be bold in my approach to fashion.

[02]

How do you define yourself as a designer?

My style is a combination of minimal cool aesthetics with grungy street references. My designs are practical and functional and realised from concepts and thoughts on political, environmental and social issues. I aim to be a designer that uses fashion as a platform to start discussions or get people from my generation to think critically about our surroundings and everyday life through the use of what we wear and how we present ourselves to the people around us.

[05]

Where do you see yourself in the future?

The ultimate goal would be to launch my own brand, in order to have the creative freedom to progress and fully realise my concepts and notions. Through my work I hope to communicate my ideas, and engage people in the issues that consume our society, and encourage conversations about the questions that inspire me to create.

[03]

What is your graduate collection about?

My graduate collection, ‘Trained to Desire’ was born out of ideas I was having about this generation’s culture and social behaviours. It talks about consumer culture and how as a society we have become less engaged with human contact and emotional attachment, and have grown accustomed to instant gratification. Due to the extreme propaganda of previous decades and the mass marketing industries driving a platform that reaches almost everyone, we as a society have been made to believe that the over consumption of goods will somehow benefit us or bring us a sense of enjoyment or happiness. This collection expresses these ideas and aims to provoke thoughts and conversations about this ideology.

[04]

What is your most important achievement to date?

Having the opportunity to show my collection at the opening ceremony of China Fashion Week, as a finalist in the 24th Annual Hempel Award International Young Designers Contest.

SHOOT

Trained to Desire photo REBECCA ELIZABETH TATE model JACK SHELDRAKE makeup CHARLEY PILBRO styling EMILY REID

TRAINED TO DESIRE

TRAINED TO DESIRE

future thought It is easy to assume that when it comes to clothing, younger shoppers are less invested in their garments and care more for frivolous trends and cheaper, faster fashion. However, according to a number of social studies, including one by the Creative Artists Agency, over a third of millennials are a lot more conscious of their buying behaviour than you might think. People are making increasingly durable purchases when they shop and are looking to change the way we consume in the future. if not now asked 10 young creatives to answer the question:

What item of clothing do you care for most and why?

JAMES ROGERS I have a bracelet that was given to me by my mum on my 16th birthday, and has been on my wrist everyday since, and forever more.

It has huge sentimental value even though it’s pretty battered. I had it slapped off my wrist by a girl on a night out in Bristol once, and I thought it was gone, but someone handed it in to the local police station. Amazing.

BETSIE LEWIS The item of clothing I care for the most, is by far my least interesting and probably least extravagant.

It’s the mustard yellow scarf I’m wearing right now that I brought in Jaipur. I was teaching just out of Jaipur and I had gone into the city to buy my family Christmas presents to send home. I went into a scarf shop, there I brought four scarfs for my friends and family but I couldn’t bear to part with this mustard yellow scarf, so I kept it. It followed me on all my travels around the world and I still wear it regularly. Now I love taking it on my travels even more because it smells like home.

IMOGEN MORLEY I think I would have to say my sparkly skirt from & Other Stories, which is one of my favourite shops. I bought it on a day out in London with my best friend last year. I wore it on Christmas Day and on my first date with my (now) boyfriend, so it has great memories attached to it. Plus it’s pink and sparkly and a great shape so wearing it makes me feel fabulous.

SAMUEL NUNN The item of clothing that is most important to me has probably got to be a scarf that was my mums. It has a ‘Tie Rack’ label on it so it’s not worth tons of money but it was a gift to her from a friend back in the ‘90s. I’ve had it for about 6 years and lost it twice, but it has always come back to me. I can wear it in Autumn, Winter, Spring and… well maybe not summer.

FINN CARTER Probably my dad’s blue cord trousers. He thought they were very unfashionable, but I thought they were great! I just like them because of the sentimental value they hold, and I like the idea that something that even my dad wouldn’t wear can now be worn by me.

ODDUR GUNNARSSON BAUER It would be my Studio Ghibli Raglan shirt. It is an American Apparel white and black shirt that I had printed with Studio Ghibli’s logo. It is my favourite piece of clothing for three reasons.

One, it fits me like it’s been specifically tailored to me. Two, I love Studio Ghibli and their films hugely inspire me. Three, every time I wear it, I get people coming up to me to talk about Studio Ghibli. So it’s a great conversation starter.

ELLA WELLS It would probably be my bright pink ‘80s off the shoulder dress, with corseted top and puff skirt. I bought it from a charity shop for a cocktail party, and at the time I thought I looked ‘the bomb’. Even though it’s not my style anymore it still lives in my wardrobe, and even with all the dresses I’ve got rid of / given away over the years, I can’t bring myself to part with it. It holds such good memories and it makes me happy every time I look at it.

AMELIA THOMAS It’s got to be my big red jumper that I bought only about six months ago, but for those last six months it has been a lifesaver. It works for duvet days as it is huge, warm and so comfortable it feels like I’m wearing a hug. It is also perfect for those spring days when you just don’t want to take a jacket out. I can wear it with anything; jeans, skirts, trainers, boots, you name it! If it got lost, I would also be lost.

LUCY WATERHOUSE I think I value my denim coat most because it used to be my mums when she was my age at art school, so feels special. I was very upset last year when I found it at a party with sick all over it; I probably wouldn’t have cared so much if it were anything else. Many (thousands of) washes later, I still wear it most days, and I feel that it has become part of my visual identity.

KATHERINE THOMSON My most treasured piece would be my Kenzo Kimono Jacket from their AW13 collection.

Long at the front and cropped at the back, its offbeat cut is a contemporary take on a classic design. It was a given to me as a 21st birthday present from my closest friends, and is emblematic of how well they know me.

THINK PIECE

Growing up,

that photo encapsulated everything I imagined ‘fashion’ to be a remote, unattainable cool that us mere mortals could only dream of.

race and relatability

words GRACE BARBER - PLENTIE photo DAVID LaCHAPELLE

RACE & RELATABILITY

My mum used to keep a photo of an Alek Wek photoshoot by David LaChappelle she’d found in a newspaper pinned up in our spare room. Growing up, it was one of my favourite images - Wek stands on a street of houses - in my childish imagination, I’d imagined it was Africa, now I can see by the blue skies and people setting on their front steps it’s most likely some kind of idealised America - three of them dull white, beige and green, while the final house at the end is draped in a beautiful pink fabric. Wek stands, (defiantly? uncaring and unmoved? it’s hard to read her emotions, another reason why I love it) hand in hand with a young girl, both wearing dresses made out of the same bright pink material.

The colour pink, matched with the blackness (and we’re talking REAL BLACK blackness here) of their skin, captures the eye in a way not many photos do for me. Growing up, that photo encapsulated everything I imagined ‘fashion’ to be - a remote, unattainable cool that us mere mortals could only dream of.

This view of fashion was probably not helped by my pre-teen obsession with Vogue magazine. I’ve no idea where it came from - potentially a trip to Holland where I began devouring my slightly older friend’s past editions? But I fell in love with the magazine and began to hold it in reverence. I’m not sure if I even liked the clothes featured, nor do I remember reading the articles, it was more the feeling that the magazine gave me - like Holly Golightly’s obsession with Tiffany’s because of what Tiffany’s stands for. Eventually, like all unattainable dreams, I got tired of Vogue. Since then, I’ve struggled to love fashion in the same way I did. I used to know all the models, all the designers, what was in and what was out.

But eventually I just stopped being interested.

Now that I study and work in film, they way I feel about the medium tends to be the way that I feel about all other mediums.

With film, one thing is crucial for me relatability. I’ve strived and searched for films about people that look like me, and moaned when there haven’t been any. This is the same with fashion - at the moment, I’m only really interested in models that have some kind of resemblance to myself. I’ll always love Alek Wek, Iman and Naomi Campbell for this very reason - despite what society tells us about blackness not being beautiful, they made it to that covetable, unattainable level. There currently aren’t many relatable models for me around (though I do confess I haven’t been searching too hard) bar Naomi Shimada. Naomi for me is everything - she’s “plus-size”, (that old tricky term) mixed race, and looks absolutely badass in everything she wears.

And why shouldn’t she? I find the idea that only certain types of people can wear certain types of things ridiculous. To me, there is no reason why a black model can’t wear the same thing a white one does, or why a plussize model can’t sport a crop top and short shorts.

That’s why, in terms of diversity, the internet has been so refreshing. Instagram, in particular, has been a revelation over the past few years. Here, women of colour seem to lie in between the margins - going largely unnoticed by “high” fashion, but wearing what they want, when they want.

There’s something refreshing about seeing someone’s selfies and thinking that they’ve taken them just like the rest of us. They may be a bit cooler or seemingly a bit more “fashion” than us normals, but they’re definitely not on that unattainable level I’ve spoken of earlier.

For me, this is what’s important. Models and women of colour interested in fashion don’t necessarily have to fit straight into the fashion “industry” anymore. They can exist in their own space, one that’s occupied by everyone, in order to break up the balance between relatable and unattainable.

MEETING

Interview

illustration

EMILY REID

EYRUN MULLER

Caryn Franklin As the former fashion editor and co-editor of i-D magazine, and presenter of The Clothes Show, Caryn Franklin is a renowned figure in the fashion industry.

As well as being a commentator, broadcaster, writer, director and speaker, Franklin also currently holds the title of Professor of Diversity in Fashion.

Franklin is an activist in the politics of positive body image and self-esteem, and with an MBE from the Queen and an extensive background in fashion; Franklin is a pioneer in driving a change in the industry. Her lifelong commitment to Slow Fashion and emotionally considerate fashion practices is promoting debate around mass production and the way we engage with fashion. Her dedication to building a sustainable fashion future, nurturing the next generation of innovators and ‘buying items with more integrity’ are just a few of the ways she is revolutionising the fashion world for the better.

CARYN FRANKLIN

I see clothes as friends. Different clothes have different purposes. I want my clothes to directly communicate my mood and my statement to strangers. I don’t want to have to reintroduce myself and say ‘this what I’m about’.

CAYRN FRANKLIN

INN There are many conversations currently happening in the fashion industry about fixing the ‘fashion system’, with issues including the unsustainable pace of fashion, the pressure on designers to constantly create and the dominance of digital. How do you think the fashion industry needs to change in order to progress?

CARYN There is no simple answer or set format or path. Fashion is made up of thousands of individuals, and it is those innovative individuals that often lead the way and make change. What I want for the future of fashion is to contribute to an educational system that liberates individuals to not follow the format, which the industry is doing. As Steve Jobs was to technology, the visionary creating a brand new way of doing things is in the system already. Politically we are immersed in a culture of accountancy because conservative government politics is all about measuring, evaluating, and costing. They think that business will fix everything and it won’t. It’s the arts, it’s creative thinking, it’s rebellion, and it’s being an individual. To my mind that is where the best ideas come from, and so that’s why I’m always so excited to work in education, because I know that a new way of doing things will come through the hearts and minds of the next generation.

INN Do you think that the next generation of creatives are catching on to this and want to make a change?

CARYN Yes, I do. Many people are questioning where global consumerism is taking us, and now there is a real urgency to it. In the last few decades we’ve exhausted resources and businesses are stripping those natural resources and not putting money back in. For example, The Yangtze River in China is nearly dead and dried up because of all the manufacturing that’s going on. Huge US corporations are driving the price down to get cheap product that they are then putting a huge mark-up on, instead of paying anything to preserve the resources that they are devastating.

There is growing discontentment with the format and with the fact that global consumerism has hijacked fashion. It’s like what Tansy Hoskins says in her amazing book Stitched Up, “Fashion is capitalism’s favourite lovechild”. It has found a way of building in obsoleteness into product creation and creative process so that it can speed up turnover and sell us products that we don’t need. It’s human desire to dress up and celebrate all that we can be and enjoy being an individual. However capitalism has come along and appropriated fashion as a set of seasonal rules and is selling it back to us, in a way that’s undermining us, and I think people are noticing what’s been happening. Which is why people like me have been very vocal in saying ‘I’m not in agreement with this’ and for this to be a catalyst for other people to say ‘now you’ve said it, I feel safer to say that I’m not in agreement with it either’.

INN In the past you have spoken about prioritising longevity in your wardrobe over frivolous trends.

How do you think we can change our buying habits to become more emotionally considerate with our clothing?

CARYN I think it’s about connecting the worker and the wearer. Thinking about what we need for ourselves and what makes us feel good, and recognising that part of what makes us feel good is knowing that we’ve bought something that is respectful of the person who’s made it. Where we know that

MEETING

they’ve been given a living wage, because we’ve been told that information in the label, and that we intend to look after this garment because it has special meaning in our lives. I think it is this thinking that helps us make a stronger bond with clothes and their use. Prioritise great design, cuts and fit, and everything that gives you a sense of your own uniqueness. Curate your own look and personalise it with individual styling to build up a look that represents you and doesn’t change from season to season. You should not be dictated to by a system that only cares about you discarding garments and buying new ones.

INN You spoke about a new project you’re working on: Sizing Up Britain - The Future of Fit, where you talk about body mapping and personalisation. Can you tell me more about this project?

CARYN I’ve been working on this project for three years with an amazing artificial intelligence specialist called Suran Goonatilake who started the company called Bodymetrics. He has been trying to bring body mapping to the market for some time, but there are cost implications for retailers, so obviously they are resistant. The benefits are mostly for the consumer, and although there are some benefits for the retailer, they don’t value these benefits because they think the system is working well enough. By contributing unique measurements, this technology can help create a real picture of the authentic end user of fashion who is not a tall, white, thin catwalk model. This can give users quality information, better fit and much better service, and to go further, if every item in stock was photographed, you suddenly have own personal wardrobe, the ability to curate your look and a tool to make shopping a lot more efficient.

However, the key thing that excites me is that we could begin to tackle the culture of women and girls having previously objectified their bodies because they’ve been groomed by fashion imagery to believe that their bodies aren’t good enough. To be able to actually to work with their bodies and rule out the things that don’t fit and stop blaming their bodies when things don’t fit. There are so many variables on a woman’s body that she cannot be reduced to a dress size. So what we’re doing with this project is creating opportunities for women to feel better about their bodies when they shop, so that they can go straight to what they know will work for them and make shopping a better experience.

INN What is your most important piece of clothing / outfit, and why?

CARYN I see clothes as friends. Different clothes have different purposes. I want my clothes to directly communicate my mood and my statement to strangers. I don’t want to have to reintroduce myself and say ‘this what I’m about’. I want them to read it in my clothes. I wouldn’t say had a lucky dress or pair of shoes, as clothes have different functions for me. If I had to say there was one item I would take in a fire, I had two pairs of lovely up-cycled Vivienne Westwood jeans twenty years ago and I took them to a design duo called Junky Styling. I asked them to make me a pair of jeans that had a more contemporary, boyish and durable style, and using both pairs they did.

Whenever I wear these jeans I get lots of comments on them, and my oldest daughter has said ‘I’m having those jeans when you’re finished with them’, and I tell her ‘Yeah, but you’ll have a long wait!’

They’re the kind of jeans I’ll wear forever, and that is the best illustration of good design, good quality fabric and good creative thinking that I can offer. Vivienne Westwood had already brilliantly designed them, and the denim has her orb and sceptre logo, with stars on one pair and circles on the other. They were cherished then, and they are cherished now, and my daughter is in line waiting to cherish them. That’s the meaning that clothes should have.

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