Olivia Rubens is more than a Canadian knitwear brand; it's a revolutionary movement for the independent and underestimated underdogs who relentlessly challenge the status quo. With a fierce determination to celebrate authenticity, Olivia Rubens inspires and empowers its tribe to embrace the unconventional and break free from the chains of conformity. Every collection is infused with stubborn independence, purpose-driven values, and non-conformist attitudes, while fearlessly exploring weird, absurd, and taboo themes season after season. Born from its founder's MA at London College of Fashion, Olivia Rubens has become a trailblazer, igniting a firestorm of creativity and redefining what it means to be an individualist.
Olivia Rubens is a positive knitwear designer who favours collaboration and invests in bio design innovation and fabric research. Her work is a playfully, thought-provoking study on human nature, nurturing impactful conversations about human behaviour with the goal of creating positive impacts for the planet and womxn across the globe. After obtaining a BA in Fashion Design from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2015, Rubens decamped to London in 2018. It was here she would receive an MA in Fashion Design Technology Womenswear from London College of Fashion in 2020. Rubens currently undertakes a fellowship at The Suzanne Rogers Fashion Institute.
Rubens showed her AW20 at Camden Roundhouse during London Fashion Week, and later would show her designs digitally as part of Helsinki Fashion Week in 2020. Rubens has also received mentorship from Fashion Open Studio after winning the Responsible Fashion Award powered by Allianz and the CNMI Award in the International Talent Support 2020 competition. In 2021, the designer staged a workshop with Fashion Open Studio during Fashion Revolution Week. In the same year, at the iD International Emerging Designer Awards, Rubens would take home the Most Sustainable Designer
Award and was a grant recipient in the UAL Creative Business Accelerator. Her main goal is to merge scientific innovations in sustainability with fashion, an endeavour showcased in her most recent collaboration with Post Carbon Lab, launching a photosynthetic collection with Machine-A. This collaboration was carried forward into her SS23 collection, showing in the LONDON show ROOMS with the British Fashion Council in 2022. Her work has been praised by Vogue, WWD, Dazed, SHOWstudio, and more.
Projects
- FW23 Through the Spilling GlassOlivia Rubens focuses inward to create a collection inspired by her ADHD diagnosis layered upon her experiences with anxiety and depression. Rubens channels these experiences and emotions, inviting the audience to delve into her world and celebrate the beauty of chaos and rebellion. “This collection is a rebellion against the ways designers and those in the fashion industry 'should' work, against behaviors and ways of expressing that are 'unacceptable' in societal norms, against all the bullsh
- SS23 CHLOROPHELIAThe unapologetic knitwear label looks to 18th century garments and Rococo excess to shine light on the greed and ignorance of the past, echoing the harsh realities of today. Using waste and found objects to piece together a collection, Rubens continues to create clothing that is both planet and people positive. This season introduces a new inspiration of Shakespearean descent that beats at the heart of this collection. “The on-stage restraint of Shakespeare’s Ophelia in the 18th century is a piv
- ss22 photosynthesize x post carbon lab x machine-aIn order to grow, plants absorb water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar. But who’s to say the process of photosynthesis should be bound to what grows in the soil beneath our feet? MACHINE-A collaborates with positive knitwear designer Olivia Rubens on Photosynthesize, a collection that transforms garments into living organisms. Made with and to be sold exclusively at MACHINE-A, central to the Photosynthesize collection is a focus on morality and commun
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Work history
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Creative Director/FounderOlivia Rubens
Ottawa, CanadaFull Time
I have been running my self-titled positive knitwear brand since graduation from my MA in 2020. I mostly run this on my own, so I touch all areas of running a fashion brand: design, technical design, production management, networking, PR and communication, social media and branding strategy, website design and e-commerce, sourcing, and creative direction and organization of all campaigns or editorials, graphic design materials, or installations. I work through both a B2B business model, as well as B2C, and manage the financial aspects of the brand.
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Freelance Technical DesignerInspired Style
- Ottawa, CanadaFreelance
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Skills
- Fashion
- Fashion Design
- Illustration
- Technical Design
- Technical Illustration
- Production Management
- Pattern Making
- Pattern Cutting
- Knitwear Design
- Draping
Education
Master of ArtsLondon College of Fashion, UAL
- London, United Kingdom
Fashion Design and Technology Womenswear
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Bachelor of Arts (BA) Ryerson University
- Toronto, Canada
Fashion Design
Awards
Merit Award - Fashion Design / Design for GoodThe One Club for Creativity
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Most Sustainable Designer AwardiD International Emerging Designer Awards
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