Meet the GFF 2020 Fashion Innovation Award Nominees
The Innovation Award has been created to more fully embrace the excellent innovative work found on members courses, but who may currently not meet the minimum stated entry criteria of the catwalk awards e.g. may only produce one – three outfits, or products, or produce a documented niche outcome, that reflects their curriculum design. Meet the nominees below!
Charlotte Ireland, University of Leeds
Topswap is the first global app that combines innovative online connectivity and personal selling with sustainable and stylist consumption. Topswap is the only globally accessible clothes swapping app. Topswap offers members a platform of individuality and creativity-acting as a safe place for young women to communicate and express themselves through fashion without the cost and environmental burden. Members can connect and inspire and are immersed in a sustainable creative world through the app news feed. We believe in creating an accessible, affordable, and stylist journey for sustainable fashion. Removing the barriers and allowing positive environmental attitudes to translate into positive consumption.
Elza Mucina, University of Westminster
The impact on our daily lives technology has had is tremendous, therefore I am proposing an extension line for Berlin based eye-wear company MYKITA to launch an exclusive collection at Dover Street Market that with a successful campaign aims to raise awareness on the use of facial recognition technology in our society and the impact it has on our well-being by offering 3D printed sunglasses with lenses that absorb the near infrared spectrum and challenge the facial recognition software on our devices and on the streets.
Erin Dapper, University of Brighton
Existing almost in an entirely virtual space, games design is an excellent opportunity to replicate fashion. We can have any kind of models, textiles, sets, lightings, props, or environments. Through gamification, virtual experiences can be created for audiences from anywhere in the world making fashion more inclusive and accessible. Our options can be limitless. Instead of yearning for the physical, we can celebrate the virtual.
This project also explores how the fashion industry can be more sustainable with games design. Working digitally means a massive decrease in waste created from fashion shoots, events, and shows. Although we will never be able to fully eradicate the impact we inflict on our planet we can alleviate some of the damage through a virtual practice.
Karolina Najdek, University of Northampton
New Horizons is inspired by space exploration, from the first sputnik satellite to plans for Mars colonisation and all those pioneers willing to venture into uncharted territories and face new challenges in order to drive humanity forward. The project explores how digital technologies, such as digital prototyping and 3D modelling could be used to advance the fashion industry. Digital prototyping was used to reduce toiling process saving time and resources. Calico, traditionally used for toiles, is made from cotton: intensively farmed crops linked to environmental disasters such as the disappearance of the Aral Sea. As a result, only one, final toile was sewn with no amendments needed – showing that possibly even that stage of production could be replaced by digital process.
Mark Chapman, Manchester Metropolitan University
The process detailed in this work entails the generation of new design informing images utilising a form of artificial intelligence called a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). In this case, I have trained the network on roughly 10,000 existing images of fashion catwalk shows. The images output by the GAN are an uncanny vision of fashion, stripped of previous context.
The research I have undertaken is reactionary to the way that technology is utilised within the fashion and art industries. Often, its usage is solely for product development, or as a form of gaining attention through flashy visuals or concepts. Technologies in this age can no longer be solely for those specifically trained in their uses, or those who utilise them with little knowledge of them to mystify their artistic concepts. I want my work to be accessible, focusing on the power of technology to benefit the creative process. My concept is not about futurology, but rather technology which is freely available to the general user right now.
Megan Walker, Southampton Solent University
Future Creatives is a brand to inspire the future generation of innovators and to shine a light on the creative industries. Subjects with a creative content are disappearing more and more each year from school curriculums, leaving the arts as extra curricular subjects which are also in jeopardy.
Considered as less important as academic subjects, less funding is failing students who’s abilities may lie in the creative industries. A platform must be offered to allow young individuals to discover their creativity and it is important to showcase the opportunities and layers of career options that are out there today, by rallying together the brave to inspire and guide the next generation of fashion creatives. Materials to help creative students may be needed now more than ever with the arts being squeezed out of curriculums and students having access to less and less options outside of STEM.
Nevertheless, platforms for inspiration are important now more than ever with the vast amount of content already over-saturating minds of the young. We give a platform for creatives to have their voice, share their story and encourage the next generation to pursue their true dreams and aspirations. We want to share your voice and showcase your creations.
Paige Allison, University of South Wales
We. The Originals is an innovative mobile application which combines gaming and social networking, in a ground-breaking new way. The pioneering mobile application allows the user to create their own online portfolio and change the colour of the apps interface to suit their personality or mood, but the personalisation doesn’t stop there - users are also able to use their creativity to design their own avatar for use in The Space, a virtual room which allows you to communicate with other users, view each others profiles and hopefully start exciting new projects, together.
In a world that feels so divided, we are passionate about creating the sense of a community within our application, one that allows you to connect, collaborate and create, all in the palm of your hand. The simple to use and innovative design makes it accessible to everyone and allows the user to embrace the evolving digital world like never before.
Poppy Wright, Ravensbourne University London
Wasted Fabrics is a non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing and education on textile waste. Wasted Fabrics aims to ensure that no fabric gets left behind. Extending the life of unwanted fabrics by recycling or reselling to the creative community, Wasted’s vision is to be a helping hand to fashion design students and designers in an already competitive industry. We will strive to provide customers with the finest quality of fabrics for an affordable price, while reducing the frightening levels of textile waste produced by the fashion industry. This is us. We are Wasted Fabrics.
Shannon McGowan, Birmingham City University
“Albatross” evolved from my family's interest in the sport of golf. My aim was to merge golf wear and today’s sportswear trends with my passion for technology. In today’s world we are torn between the benefits that technology can bring whilst struggling with the amount of waste from consumers. Developments in 3D technology can really help reduce both manufacture times and the impacts on the environment. My initial design development came from recycling and repurposing unwanted golf bags to create my silhouettes and develop the detail and form of my collection.
Sophie Parnaby, Manchester Metropolitan University
Research has found that heavily embellished garments are commonly worn for a few occasions before they are sent to landfill, where the bead and sequin components, often made from plastic, will persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
As part of my final collection, I developed an innovative manufacturing process to address this issue, providing a sustainable alternative to current, unsustainable embellishment production methods.
After discovering how 3D print technology is used in other manufacturing industries to reduce waste, I wanted to investigate how this could be beneficial to the embellishment industry. It is currently estimated that 33% of sequin film is wasted during the sequin punching process, resulting in a large quantity of plastic going to landfill before the sequins are even used to embellish garments. The additive nature of 3D printing means that embellishing fabrics using the technology is zero waste, as only the material needed is used.