Editorial

Fashion Practice is the first peer-reviewed academic journal to cover the full range of contemporary design and manufacture within the context of the fashion industry. Design processes and new technologies fuel the most vibrant areas of fashion practice and commerce today, yet they have been largely ignored by scholarship. Fashion Practice fills this major gap by providing a much-needed forum for topics ranging from design theory to the impact of technology, economics and industry on fashion practice. Interdisciplinary and wide-ranging, Fashion Practice addresses the entire business of fashion, including: -innovation in fashion design and practice -sustainability and ethics within the industry -micro-and nano-technologies within the fashion context -'smart' textiles and digital fashion -materials, design, concepts and process -fashion consumption and production from retail/e-tail to performance fashion -new developments in fashion and clothing retai

Editorial in "Fashion Practice: Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry"

The landscape of research in fashion has blossomed over the last decades. A marked increase in academic debate and a burgeoning number of publications have begun to map the diversity, complexity, and breadth of fashion as simultaneously a major industry and a cultural medium, often dismissed as superficial and “merely” commerce. Fashion is by its complex nature multidisciplinary, comprising: design in both two and three dimensions, textile development, old and new technologies, craftsmanship and artisan skills, business and production, marketing, promotion and consumption, global economics, material and visual culture, history, social anthropology, and so on

Simplicity, Comfort and Form in Contemporary Asian Textiles and Fashion

Published in Text, the annual magazine from The Textile Society - a registered charity which aims to unite scholars, designers, teachers, practitioners, artists, collectors and other who share an interest in this multi-faceted subject

Designer Hussein Chalayan in Conversation with Sandy Black

Part artist, part sculptor, part showman, and part fashion designer, Hussein Chalayan has made the fashion performance his consummate medium of expression. Chalayan’s influential work in fashion, since his debut in 1993, has been the subject of innumerable profiles and interpretations and in 2004 a retrospective exhibition marking ten years was staged at the Gröninger Museum in The Netherlands. Five years on, From Fashion and Back, his first solo exhibition in the UK has been presented in London at the Design Museum (see review in this issue). Chalayan is an innovator and an intellectual, pioneering approaches to fashion that draw on areas such as anthropology, science, and technology, and the personal philosophy which informs his own beliefs and identity. Through his fashion show presentations, installations, and film collaborations Chalayan has created memorable spectacles that often comment on the human situation and political circumstances of our times, particularly in relation to his own Turkish-Cypriot ethnicity. Through precise and visionary choreography of an impressive range of collaborators and technical experts, Chalayan expresses concepts often rooted in displacement, trans-migration, and transformation, making personal, cultural, and socio-political statements in addition to creating beautiful objects and fashion for sale. It is these seminal moments of catwalk performance that have become iconic in contemporary fashion—both visually and intellectually. In Chalayan’s hands, the dress becomes emblematic and layered with meanings, whether or not these are perceived and understood by his audience: the personal concept and design development process are essential for the designer. Hussein Chalayan was born in Cyprus in 1970, and later studied at Central St Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London, graduating in 1993. His graduate collection, The Tangent Flows, was famously covered in iron filings and buried in the garden for weeks before being shown. Since launching his own label, he has twice been named British Designer of the Year in 1999 and 2000. Just before the Autumn/Winter 2009 collections (February 13, 2009), Sandy Black spoke to Hussein Chalayan about his own practice, designers’ influence, and the wider issues of sustainability in fashion design and manufacturing. This journal is edited by Sandy Black, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK and Marilyn DeLong, College of Design, University of Minnesota, US

Science, technology and sustainable fashion and textiles

Article laying out issues and research directions linking science, technology and sustainable fashion and textile

Drawing Towards Fashion

Exhibition of drawings made by designers, artists and creative practitioners at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. Curated by Charlotte Hodes, Senior Research Fellow in Drawing Featuring Sandy Black's drawings from the V&A Archive

Visionary Knitwear: New Directions

An exhibition of innovative 21st century knitwear, curated by Sandy Black, commissioned by the Fashion & Textile Museum London and shown alongside the exhibition Knitwear: Chanel to Westwood featuring 20th century knitwear (including an evening coat by Sandy Black). Visionary Knitwear: new directions took as its lens the UK nexus of creative design education in knitwear and knitted textiles for fashion, and was designed to complement and update the Knitwear: Chanel to Westwood exhibition

Made in Future

The Considerate Design project was asked to exhibit its products at the ‘Made In Future’ exhibition in Milan, organised by the UK Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth office and the Materials KTN. A vision of things to come, showcasing fashion & clothing incorporating UK based smart materials technology. All products from the 'Considerate Design for Personalised Fashion' Project were displayed: Seamless knitted sweaters from 'Knit for Fit' (Sandy Black and Penelope Watkins); bespoke bags (Steven Harkin and Frances Geesin); 'Evolving Textiles', gloves made by rapid prototyping (Philip Delamore). As a follow on from the ‘Made In Future’ event in Milan the Materials KTN arranged a showcase event at the House of Lords in June 2010. Showcasing fashion & clothing incorporating UK based smart materials and technology, the Considerate Design project was invited to showcase the project's work

Knitted Wedding: Performance and Participation through Craft

Part of the 'Ceremony' exhibition, providing a glimpse into the diverse range of craft practices and techniques used by contemporary practitioners, exploring how unique crafted objects play an integral role in execution of traditional rites of passage