talks about changing the world with fashion activism. By Lois Anzelowitz Levine
IT IS ALMOST impossible to assign a job title to Lebanese-born Céline Semaan, since her work in fashion casts such a wide net: Besides being founder of Slow Factory, an online fashion “tech lab” that manufactures clothing and accessories, she also helped create The Library: Sustainable Fashion Archive, a partnership with MIT Media Lab, designed to foster collaborations for sustainability in the fashion industry. In addition to designing her own accessories, Semaan also designs for clients that include Condé Nast, Seed Media Group, General Assembly and Tribute. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Refinery 29, Fast Company and The New York Times. How did you get into fashion initially?
My background is in both tech and digital literacy. I have worked as a community lead for Creative Commons in
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Canada (a tech company that develops and stewards legal and techincal infrastructure to provide open research and education to online users), and have helped launch open licenses on the internet in both Qatar and Beirut. I stumbled into fashion by accident. When NASA joined Creative Commons, I tweeted, “Wouldn’t it be nice to wrap yourself with the universe?” I received such a positive response to that tweet, that I began printing digital NASA images onto fabric, like scarves and T-shirts. That is essentially how it happened. What exactly do you mean by fashion activism?
Fashion activism is using fashion as a medium for social and environmental change. It is about respecting both the people as well as the environment in the process of execution. It is also a linear vs. circular model. Fast fashion is
PHOTO: CÉLINE SEMAAN, YUDI ECHEVARRIA; SCARVES COURTESY SLOW FACTORY
rebel style
Céline Semaan, CEO and founder of Slow Factory,
