Fashion has long been a portal for visionaries to materialise their idea through garments and textile. Through each and every historic milestone, the fashion industry helped bridge between realities and future expectations.
This year, the British Fashion Council (BFC) will aim for a utopian tomorrow with the help of a young generation of 80 fashion designers from 24 countries. “Fashion Utopias” is the fifth edition of the annual International Fashion Showcase (IFS), which is an essential part of London Fashion Week’s programme that celebrates the fashion industry’s universal contemporary culture.
“From the entries we have already seen, this year’s showcase will be a chance to witness a phenomenally uplifting inter-cultural compare-and-contrast,” BFC ambassador for emerging talent, chief critic at Voguerunway.com and head of judging panel Sarah Mower MBE said.
(Photo from BritishCouncil.com)
This year, the exhibition is part of “Utopia 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility” at Somerset House, the long standing home of London Fashion Week (LFW). Utopia 2016 is set to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Thomas More’s canonical treatise, Utopia.
“At a time when it often seems as if we have plunged into a dystopian age, it is a liberating act to think about exactly the opposite: if we could create a Utopia, how would we want it to be?” Mower said.
The West Wing at Somerset House will be transformed between 19 and 23 February into a utopian terrain, courtesy of designer Hatty Ellis Coward. The exhibition will be divided into 14 different galleries, 13 of which will represent a country each, while the 14th will harbour the collective works of few nations.
Designers from Egypt, Austria, Lebanon, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Indonesia, Korea, Portugal, the Philippines, Nigeria, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine will be sharing their various interpretations of the Utopia theme in separate independent galleries.
Egypt’s exhibition is set to represent the concept of “Contemporary Rebirth”, a reflection of the country’s fashion evolution post 25 January 2011. The installation is built around the tree of life and the lotus flower that link the country’s historical past and optimistic future.
Participating designers include Maram, Reem Jano, Sabry Marouf, Saya, and Marsouma. Meanwhile it is curated by Susan Sabet and designed by Hedayat Islam and Jamspace.
On the other hand, “Next in Line” is a collective installation curated by Shonagh Marshall and sponsored by Italian mannequin manufacturer Bonaveri. The installation will include designs from Argentina, Bahrain, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, and the UAE.
“Each country’s deeply-felt exhibit is also to be framed with a national curator, a fast-developing field of collaboration on the frontiers between art and fashion. The installations, which for the first time are to be set in the beautiful surroundings of Somerset House, promise to give a flash-forward to the possibilities of multiple happier futures,” Mower said.
Meanwhile the exhibition’s peak is the awarding ceremony on 21 February, in which it will recognise a winning country, designer, and curator. “We expect to see the beginnings of many careers starting right here in London Fashion Week,” Mower said about the awarding ceremony.
This year, IFS is directed by strategic consultant at the British Fashion Council Anna Orsini and programme manager at the British Council Niamh Tuft.
IFS is a series of specially-commissioned and curated fashion installations that feature themed interpretations by emerging designers from all over the world during London Fashion Week.
In 2012, in parallel with the London Olympics, IFS was founded to celebrate universal equality, respect, and friendship. Korea was IFS’s first winning country with their exhibition “A New Space Around the Body”, which featured eight local designers.
More than 500 exceptional designers from 80 countries have exhibited their universal creations in the IFS initiative.
