2022 Proposal Guidance
FASHIO N OPEN STUDIO
About Fashion Open Studio Fashion Open Studio is Fashion Revolution’s showcasing initiative, launched in 2017. It is an event series which takes place during Fashion Revolution Week aiming to shine a light on emerging designers, established trailblazers and major players, celebrating the people and processes behind fashion and accessories collections, promoting industry transparency and longevity through simple, authentic narratives that resonate with consumers and creatives alike.
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What is Fashion Revolution Week? April 24 is the anniversary of the Rana Plaza Factory disaster which killed over 1100 garment workers in 2013. The tragedy is remembered every year, and the anniversary has grown into Fashion Revolution Week which is a global campaign with more than 100 countries taking part in a week of talks, events, activations, clothes swaps, and positive ways to move the industry forward towards greater social and environmental sustainability. Fashion Open Studio is activated during this week.
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Why did we create Fashion Open Studio? We believe that the way fashion is showcased, including fashion weeks in their current format, needs to be urgently redesigned and upgraded. While they offer a unique platform to showcase innovation and new ideas but they need to be put to good use. Solutions to the global challenges designers and supply chains face can be found within the industry itself through the dedication and commitment of industry insiders striving to explore new ways of working.
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Celebrating Best Practice The only way forward is to share best practice, open source good ideas, push creativity, but also ensure that fashion weeks collaborate to include and foster alternative solutions and ultimately minimise their collective impact. Through internationalising Fashion Open Studio we hope to invite collaboration with international fashion weeks to avoid duplication, and look at ways to minimise their collective burdensome impact.
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Fashion Open Studio Case Studies
Fashion Open Studio is a platform that allows designers to aunthentically tell their narrative and highlight specific challenges they are trying to overcome and solutions they want to share. The format allows open dialogue and creates opportunities to talk about some of the key issues facing the industry including upcycling, on-demand production, new materials, packaging, sourcing, and new models including rental and wardrobe sharing.
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Fashion Open Studio Designers
High profile designers who have worked with Fashion Open Studio include Vivienne Westwood with a couture workshop, Katharine Hamnett, Duran Lantink who was our first designer in residence in our partnership with the British Council, Priya Ahluwalia, Patrick Grant, Stella McCartney and the RealReal. Internationally some high profile designers we have worked with are Kowtow (New Zealand), Bodice (India), Emmy Kasbit (Nigeria) and Rafael Kouto (Switzerland). As well as pioneering emerging designers and makers from over 35 countries, such as Maison Faliakos (Greece) and Sindiso Khumalo (South Africa). FAS H ION OPEN ST U D I O
Case Study
Phoebe English: Quilting from waste
Phoebe English identified a key challenge in her production processes as textile waste. She has been collecting and keeping all her sample scraps and off cuts and wanted to both highlight the issue and create a project which would make constructive use of them. She has hosted Quilting from Waste workshop at her studio in Deptford Creek in south-east London during Fashion Open Studio in 2018 and 2019, as well as the press preview for Fashioned From Nature at the V&A.
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“The more you talk, the more we behave as a community of active citizens, the more solutions will appear.” Phoebe English
Case Study
Raeburn Studio: Parachute Tote
A workshop designed to highlight the Raeburn mantra: Remake, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Attendees were given the opportunity to work with Raeburn and his team to cut an sew their own tote bags at the Raeburn Lab in east London. This is a hugely popular workshop, where attendees can learn more about the Raeburn processes and innovative solutions to many of the industry’s challenges around waste, consumption, and over production as well as to make a tote bag made from material so strong, they will be able to use it for years to come.
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Case Study
Aranya Craft x Rahemur Rahman: The Home of a Natural Dyer
A live demonstration and guided workshop showing madder dye and shibori patterns for a t-shirt led collaboratively by designer and crafts activist, Rahemur Rahman and Aranya Crafts. Aranya uses authentic natural dyes that are freshly prepared from ingredients such as Madder, Indigo, Cutch. They also develop and source authentic and original crafts and designs from all over the country, since its inception, working with a wonderful pool of dedicated craft and artisan clusters towards the development of traditional crafts. During the live online workshop Shireen - an artisan from Aranya was on hand to demonstrate and explain the dyeing techniques and answer questions regarding the benefits of natural dye production. Following along from home participants rejuventated pieces from their wardrobes using shibori techniques.
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Case Study
Aassttin: Iran Programme
Tehran-based concept store Aassttiin have collaborated with Fashion Revoution Iran and Fashion Open Studio for two years to host a series of live workshops and pre-filmed open studios with Iranian designers including: Sona Asemani, Foje, A2byMatin and Azadeh Yasaman. The week-long programmes have included a katan embroidery workshop, upcycling from home, immersive behind the scenes tours with artisans and weaver and studio tours.
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Allpamamas: Journey of a thread – an immersion into textile art from the Andes of Ecuador
Case Study
Allpamamas invite us on the journey of a cotton thread as is transformed into a garment by the hands of artisans in the Ecuadorian Andes. Followed by a live Q&A and studio tour with the founders and their team from their studio in Quito, Ecuador.
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“We have to realise that it will be in our ability to unlearn, relearn, re-evaluate and change that will hold the key to all our creative
futures.”
Patrick McDowell
Global Events Across the 2020 and 2021 Fashion Open Studio programmes we have worked with designers, makers and artisans from 37 countries to build an international schedule of events. For 2022, we are looking to continue this global programme and connect it to future partnerships including Fashion Open Studio’s co-curation of the State of Fashion Biennial in Arnhem in June 2022. We are looking to select 15 Fashion Open Studio events to take place internationally during Fashion Revolution Week 2022. We will Support these events through: • Curatorial guidance • FOS branding kit • Communication and marketing support • Connecting participants to a network of FOS designers & brands • Partnership agreements templates www.fashionopenstudio.com
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Our Partners • 50M • Avery Dennison • Beyond Retro • British Council • British Textiles Biennial • Central St Martins • Chelsea College of Art • Common Objective • Depop • Harvey Nichols • ISKO • Lakme Fashion Week
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• Lagos Fashion Week • Maiyet Collective • Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin • Sarabande Foundation • Selfrifdges • Somerset House Studios & Makerversity • Redress • State of Fashion Biennial • Study Hall by Slow Factory • Sustainable Fashion Week NY • Victoria & Albert Museum FAS H ION OPEN ST U D I O
Nomination & Selection Process International Fashion Open Studio selections will be nominated by an industry partner for example fashion council, fashion weeks. Each country can nominate up to 3 designers/brands that meet the curatorial criteria. Nominations should be sent to your Fashion Revolution Country Coordinator using the proposal template provided with this document. The nomination form which asks for some simple information including: website, social media links, designer bio, an explanation of how the designer’s work meets the FOS curatorial criteria and how their practice responds to the FOS 2022 theme.
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Nomination & Selection Process Once nominations have been recieved the selection panel will shortlist designers and invite shortlisted designers to submit a full Fashion Open Studio event proposal using the template provided in this document and a questionniare to understand their practice in relation to the FOS curatorial criteria. This proposal and accompanying questionnaire is an opportunity to exchange information and for us all to understand the designer’s processes and purpose in order to help them communicate what they are doing and share their ideas and innovations. The questionnaire asks questions that we hope will encourage designers to ask more questions of themselves and their practice.
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Nomination and selection timeline Please ensure you have read the FOS 2021 Proposal Guidelines thoroughly before completing this proposal template. To propose a international Fashion Open Studio event please: 1. Complete the nomination form by 8 November. 2. We will confirm shortlisted designers by 15 November and invite them to submit a full proposal and designer questionnaire. 3. Designers submit proposals on the provided template and complete the designer survey by 10 December. 4. Final selection made by 17 December.
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Curatorial themes & approach Fashion Open Studio aims to reflect a diverse range of approaches and perspectives on ethics and sustainability in fashion. As a result we are seeking designers and brands that illustrate different approaches and themes. We are interested to highlight designers and brands who are addressing themes such as: pre and post-consumer waste, circular design, materials, craft, cultural heritage and cultural IP, social sustainability, transparency, innovative business models and activism. Inevitably there is a degree of nuance and opinion on whether a designer, brand or creative fits the Fashion Open Studio criteria. Final decisions will be made by the curatorial selection panel and those who are not selected will get feedback from the panel.
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Curatorial criteria: Designers & Brands
We have a stratified approach depending on the size and scope and sense of purpose of a brand or designer. When selecting designers, we are also selecting truly innovative and groundbreaking talent in terms of aesthetic propositions and we require at least three of the following criteria:
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1) Active pursuit of business models that put the planet and people before profit - but that can still sustain themselves as a business or social enterprise, with responsibility to pay their employees, suppliers, and their partners a living wage. 2) Challenging themselves to find solutions to particular problems in the supply chain/ sourcing/ production system to eliminate waste/pollution etc 3) Creating a business that celebrates transparency and accountability in their processes, sourcing, and pricing to show the value of their product or their service.
4) Understand and use regenerative systems in their choices of materials, services they offer to repair, resell, rejuvenate clothing and textiles already in existence. 5) Creating ways to rethink clothing use, production, purchasing transactions 6) Use local networks to connect fibre production which value and remunerate makers, and create regenerative systems of clothing production and use.
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Curatorial theme: State of Fashion Biennial 2022
Fashion Open Studio were selected as co-curators of the State of Fashion Biennial 2022 alongside Not___Enough Collective. As a result the Fashion Open Studio programme during Fashion Revolution Week 2022 will act as an introductory programme in the lead up to the biennial in Arnhem in June 2022. This will enable us to develop events, content and projects with some designers to present during the biennial. The FOS 2022 theme responds directly to the curatorial statement for the biennial.
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Curatorial theme: Ways of Caring The current state of fashion mirrors the world we live in — a world of broken relationships. We have become increasingly disconnected from each other, from what we wear, from the workers and from the earth that grows the fibres we encounter every day when we dress. This is present in every piece of clothing we ____________. This separation that we experience is part of the heritage of the industrial fashion system, built on the single aim of producing more to grow profits. As with other industries rooted in colonial practices, fashion fails to be responsible for the oppression of people and the theft of land from nature and native communities. To keep this malfunctioning system alive, people, animals, plants and __ are exploited, poisoned by pesticides in the cotton fields and toxic chemicals in the dyeing and processing of our clothes. Why is the industry still failing to____________?
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Curatorial theme: Ways of Caring By privileging one perspective over many, the dominant fashion culture undermines different points of view and ways of relating to clothes. It follows a system of institutionalized racism, inherent in the remaining colonial power. There are so many ways of doing, experiencing, narrating, knowing, imagining, dressing and _____________ that are still not recognized. Why are so many narratives still missing? How can we make space for different _____________ to co-exist? For the State of Fashion Biennial 2022, we want to stop assuming, and start listening. We want to ask, reflect, celebrate, ________ and embrace different ways of expressing, making and unmaking fashion. If we reconnect the missing threads of our relationships, aesthetics, ________ and sensibilities, new ways of caring for our clothes, each other and nature can flourish. We wish to recognize the people, ___________, our environment, and the stories that haven’t been given space to be heard.
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Curatorial theme: Ways of Caring As co-curators, we feel the urgency and responsibility to open spaces, starting from this very text. We want to make room for uncertainties, mistakes, curiosities, open endings, changes and _________. For the biennale, we begin by asking what has been left out, removed and _________. Only by accepting and recognizing what is missing, and by addressing the damages of these omissions, can we move forward. We encourage individual and collective acts of repairs and reparations, from mending our clothes to fixing our dysfunctional systems. We invite you to exercise coexistence with us, valuing the multiple differences and relationships that we encounter every day when dressing. We will encounter each other, celebrate our differences, work together, ____________, accept responsibilities, embracing what separates and unites us. This may sound difficult, but we know it is doable. Are you ready to _________? www.fashionopenstudio.com
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Curatorial theme
Key themes to respond to are: • Disconnection and reconnection, repairing broken relationships with people and planet. • Embracing the missing, addressing the damages of these omissions. • Redressing the colonial roots of the fashion industry. The fashion pluriverse, many different ways of expressing, making and unmaking fashion.
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Curatorial criteria: Event format • Ideally set in the studio or if the studio is not appropriate for a public or digital event then showing an element of the studio. Previous third party venues have included cultural venues, creative hubs and concept stores. • Open to a public audience • FOS should give an insight into process. We recommend a hands-on or demo element with an opportunity to meet the designer and/or the team • We welcome a diverse range of event formats including: workshops, demos, show & tell, studio tours, in-conversation discussions, experiential events, fashion presentations, creative collaborations and residencies, tours of factories/suppliers by designers and creatives
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Can FOS events includes sales opportunities?
Fashion Open Studio encourages participating designers and brands to complement their open studio event with sales through collaborations with retailers and inviting potential customers to attend. We also encourage participating designer to explore the other ways they can generate income from their event - whether that be through ticketing or exploring alternative models like rental, swapping and sharing. Designers and brands are encouraged to sell their collections, only if sales and shopping is combined with other activities (as previously described).
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Further Requirments
Public Liability Insurance Unfortunately Fashion Revolution is not able to cover third parties under its Public Liability Insurance. All FOS events must be covered by Public liability Insurance to an appropriate level so we ask the host or producer to provide evidence of valid PLI or to take out the appropriate level of PLI to cover the event.
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Find us at: @Fashionopenstudio FOS on Youtube Fashionopenstudio.com FAS H ION OPEN ST U D I O
Thank You!
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