We develop meaningfull relationships and connections between industry, creative professionals and education. Many projects are confidential and facilitate bigger change in the materials, design, manufacturing and business models. Our projects can identify the crucial needs, radical approach and collaborative approach to fit the challenge.
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ARCHIVES
Here are some of the projects and initiatives that we have conceived and realised...
CFDA Education Summit 2017
As the first participants ever to be invited outside of the US, Katarina and Amanda initiated a thought provoking Think Tank session which centred on sustainable futures. Labeled as a “highlight” of the CFDA summit, they successfully helped engage guests to co-create a fashion manifesto in order to contribute to the continuous effort of reaching a triple bottom line approach: where sustainability will become a standard for the fashion industry. Through Katarina and Amanda's expertise in education and sustainability, the Think Tank stimulated proactive synergy, co-creation, and collaboration among some of the most important players in the fashion industry, thus delivering results with a long reaching impact within fashion education.
/Align were asked to consult and act in an informal mentorship capacity with designers of the CFDA+ Lexus Fashion Initiative, as designers worked to refine their own pitches and submissions for their final program deliverable “Strategic Blueprints for Impactful Futures” in April 2017.
Hyeres Fashion and Photography Festival
Continuing with their passion for aligning education with industry, Katarina and Amanda initiated and organised an immersive study tour for selected London College of Fashion (LCF) Master’s students to attend the the world renowned Hyères Fashion and Photography festival. This annual festival brings together fashion professionals throughout the creative industries to engage in conferences, presentations and events promoting emerging talent in the disciplines of fashion and photography. The festival also serves as a platform for leading industry players to collaborate and converse on the future direction of fashion.
As part of the festival, Align arranged dynamic workshops directly linking LCF students with prominent members within the industry. Workshop highlights from this year's study tour included:
A think tank session on the subject of “New future creatives”, with Mariasole Pastori and Olympia de la Brosse both representatives from Eyes on Talent - a newly launched platform from the leading independent HR consulting firm for luxury Floriane de Saint-Pierre et Associés
A think tank session interrogating “Fashion Tech and Creativity” with Business of Fashion 500 member and renowned Biomedia designer, Dr. Amanda Parkes and Lucas Delattre, Professor of Communication at Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) Paris
Interactive brainstorm session building on the Fashion Futures manifesto launched at the CFDA Educational summit 2017 together with Stephanie Soto, CFDA Program ordinator of Education and Professional Development and Lucy Jones, Fashion Innovator, Parsons NYC professor and CFDA Education ambassador.
Lecture on The Psychology of Selfhood in Fashion Photography presented by Special Guest in Residence: Caryn Franklin MSc, M.B.E. Fashion Commentator and Agent of Change and Professor of Diversity at Kingston University
Other festival activities included an embroidery workshop with Maison Lesage, exhibitions by Tim Walker, Pierre Hardy, and Schiaparelli under the creative direction of Bertrand Guyon and additionally the Fashion Show Competition: featuring the work of 10 emerging designers in competition forthe Première Vision and Chloé awards. Workshops initiated by Katarina and Amanda and events organised by the Hyeres festival were all reported on by LCF students in the blog and social media platforms “Inside Hyeres” - an independent media outlet which gained huge international traction due to its running in-depth commentary on the festival.
The annual study tour to Hyères offered an opportunity for students to interact with a broad range of European and International students and prominent industry professionals, forging connections and exploring synergies during a very intense but intimate environment. Especially in light of a volatile political climate, fostering collaboration and exchange between international students and industry remains incredibly relevant, especially in terms of pushing innovative agendas forward.
Katarina and Amanda identified this unique learning opportunity that the Hyeres Festival experience can offer, and essentially brought invaluable learning - to both students and professionals- as the event presents a microcosm of the industry for study. Students were thrilled to have the rare opportunity to contribute to a world class festival and foster important connections, vital to their own futures, while industry leaders were excited to directly collaborate and hear exceptions from the upcoming generation of professionals.
““Thanks to the opportunities provided by Amanda and Katarina, I was able to accomplish my goals (and more) and have incredible memories to look back on. The Hyères festival, was the best experience during my time at LCF, and was the perfect platform for discussion, debate, exchange, and networking. It encouraged us as students to proactively engage with professional members within the industry and share our own voices…the festival was the most motivational trip, inspiring us to trigger change and work hard for something we believe in. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of.” ”
SCIP: Beyond Fashion
Conceived by project leaders Katarina and Amanda, Beyond Fashion initiated a dynamic dialogue between staff, students and the wider fashion community to better understand what sustainability and inter-disciplinary collaboration means in practice. Beyond Fashion aimed to explore the notion of how both professionals and students may develop tools to use fashion as a medium to shape, and communicate a preferred global future. Through Katarina and Amanda's experience in fostering collaborative experiences, the project sparked the opportunity to innovate, explore developmental processes and to engage with collaborative working practices, resulting in a gallery showcase of the collaborative outcomes.
The project encouraged cross-disciplinary and cross-college collaboration bringing together industry and education. Students from three UAL colleges; Central St Martins, London College of Fashion and London College of Communication worked together to study and interrogate existing and future fashion systems, mapping out local and global consciousness, impacts and consumer habits around fashion.
The project represented the creative journey of the group, united in a unique extra- curricular collaborative venture, to explore fashion, and its connected industries through a sustainable lens. With the support of external partners, Impact Hub Westminster and The Lissome, students proactively engaged in an immersive journey while industry experts too were invited to explore how fashion can act as a powerful tool to tackle social, environmental, economic, and ethical issues. Featured were a series of installations and interactive activities which questioned and explored both current and preferred systems, a result of curated activism to create thought-provoking responses.
Outcomes allowed students to engage with high profile industry partners and organisations with global outreach in order to successfully highlight the addressed topics of: sustainable approaches, future fashion solutions, social responsibility, conscious luxury, technology and digital enhancing tools, ethical fashion brand building, intelligent fashion marketing strategies, mindful & holistic consumerism and local & global fashion futures
The Beyond Fashion exhibition at London College of Fashion successfully reached far beyond the fashion community:
At the exhibition opening Richard Sant (Head of Careers and Employability University of the Arts London) said; “The exhibition looked great and we received such positive feedback from the visitors. Not just UAL staff and students but general public who was drawn in by the exciting display.”