LFW: GFF, Crisis & Love Not Landfill partner on emerging designer upcycling range

UK non-profit organisation the Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) has teamed up with the charity for homelessness Crisis, and ReLondon’s non-profit campaign Love Not Landfill to showcase and sell a range of 15 upcycled looks for LFW AW23.

Students from a range of GFF member universities across the UK created 28 handcrafted outfits.

They were asked to use only second-hand clothing without any virgin fabrics to create their looks. In addition, they had to ensure their designs fit three dress sizes by using inventive modular design or fastening types.

Georgina Evans, head of retail at Crisis and Lizzy Woods, campaign executive from Love Not Landfill subsequently selected 15 final looks with the assistance of two industry judges to be featured in the campaign and professional photoshoot.

The industry experts were Orsola DeCastro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution, and designer and sustainability expert Patrick McDowell, both ambassadors at the GFF.

The range of 38 looks created by emerging designers from UK universities are on sale since Friday February 17 at the Crisis store, in Shoreditch.

In addition, selected items can be found within the window displays of the Crisis stores at Finsbury Park and Camden.

From Friday March 10, the outfits will be released online at Crisis’ retail website ‘Shop From Crisis’.

GFF, Crisis & Love Not Landfill partner on emerging designer upcycling range for LFW

The following students have created the looks that are on sale: Abbie Walton, Emily Teague, Anastasiia Naumenko from Birmingham City University, Aleksandra Treiman and Kaci-Leigh from De Montfort University, Coventry University students Gabriela Dimitrova and Heather Ekin.

The looks created by students Lilly Reed, Philippa Anderson, Tasha Barks, and Thanacha Chusakul from Nottingham Trent University are also available for purchase, in addition to those created Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton students Olivia Llewellyn, Takara Thai Dimmick and Ziyu Ye.

Furthermore, from the University of Central Lancashire, Adam Gronback, Mia Cranston, and Niamh Cull each created their own handcrafted look, as well as Taima Castor from Northumbria University, Lillian Vipin-Leen from the University of South Wales, Lauren Riley, a student at Sheffield Hallam University and Lena Pogodina, a student at the Glasgow School of Art.

Jury member and GFF ambassador Orsola De Castro commented on the project in a statement: ”I love working with students and supporting emerging talent.”

“This is really very important for me, and upcycling [is] above all. The future is upcycling. The future of fashion is in the past,” she said.

Designer Patrick McDowell, also a jury member and GFF ambassador, added: “It's amazing to support the next generation of fashion talent and I'm so inspired by what I've seen."

The next edition of Graduate Fashion Week (GFW), the annual showcase of UK fashion design talent at the Bachelor talent, organised by GFF, will take place from June 12 to June 15, 2023 at the Truman Brewery in London.