Fashion loves a revolution. But what if, rather than the length of hemlines or declarations on the new erogenous zone (sideboob, underboob, bum crack?), that revolution involved something that, well, changed things? Big things? Like, people’s lives? That’s what the brilliant Fashion Revolution set out to do – ever since the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh, they’ve made it their mission to make the clothing supply train more transparent, forcing fashion brands answer the question: who made my clothes? This week, they had their Fashion Revolution day, and have celebrated with a week-long series of events – including 10 Mag bestie and Fashion Features Director of Tank, Tamsin Blanchard, who has curated Open Studios, where a selection of designers, as the name suggests, opened up their studios so that we the public could see how clothes are actually made. Designers from Christopher Raeburn, who allowed people to customise their own tote bag using production off cuts, to Kepler, who showed the labour-heavy process behind their their signature lino fabric. And, in a special talk last night, Tamsin herself talked to CSM Graduate and current scholar of Alexander McQueen’s Sarabande Foundation, designer John Alexander Skelton – “to create meaning takes a lot of time,” he says of his incredible work – work created from hand-worked fabrics – Shetland wool, hemp from northern France – or reworked antique clothes sourced from Belgium, to create clothing both arresting and ageless. And sustainable too. Just not as you know it.
Photograph courtesy of @fleurbritten
