As part of Woven The Children’s Art School was asked to deliver the Future Fashion Challenge project to Kirklees schools for the festival. We worked with 16 schools and 500 children to deliver artist led workshops developing innovative ideas into wearable outcomes for a fabulous catwalk show at University of Huddersfield on June 15th
The Catwalk event featured 150 children wearing a range of exciting and creative pieces which they had designed and made themselves.
The Future Fashion Challenge aimed to raise awareness of the textiles industry and to highlight the exciting and innovative textile developments within Kirklees. Children were asked to use their imaginations, look into the future and show us what tomorrow’s fashion will look and feel like, and potentially do!
All our groups took part in the challenge – even our pre-school Little Art Club! The Little Art and Junior Art Clubs’ collection was inspired by the children’s love of the sea. They had so much to say about their experiences of the sea and are fascinated by the creatures that live there.
The children explored colour, heat-pressing, felting, weaving, cutting, slashing and joining to create gorgeous ocean capes. They collaged with fabrics, upcycled plastics using the heat press and explored pattern and colour to create a shoal of beautiful fish hats. The children who have made and are wearing this collection are aged between 3 and 7 years. The older children in the group expressed concern about the amount of plastic in our oceans and were excited about making something which reminded us all what a wonderful and beautiful place it is.
Our Intermediates (7-11yrs) and senior (11-17yrs) groups were inspired by sustainable approaches to fashion and textiles – especially Mycoworks (www.mycoworks.com) who make leather out of mycellium (mushroom roots!) and Kengo Kuma’s ‘breath/ng’ sculpture which absorbs 90,000 cars worth of pollution.
First they took inspiration from natural forms of leaves and funghi and applied them to the body:
Then they developed structure and shape:
1. Magnificent Mushrooms: Colonies and Clusters
Our young artists developed their ideas into 3 distinct collections
Inspired by the ‘World of Wearable Art’ our young artist looked at the amazing variety of mushrooms and funghi on this planet and explored designing by taking the visual elements of the mushrooms and applying them to the body.
They have created wearable structures based on the shapes of mushrooms and have upcycled waste materials from manufacturing to create colonies and clusters through repetition. Surfaces have been embellished using natural dyes and ecoprinting
These collections have been created by children and young people aged 7-15 yrs.
Collection 2:
The Future is Fantastic!
Looking into the future this collection creates pieces that not only look fantastic and ‘out of this world’ but are functional too!
A,S and S have made a mushroom inspired structure with growths and devices that absorb and filter pollution to create fresh air
E, E and H created a personalised unit which has everything you need to keep you alive in outer space.
A developed accessories with the potential to include technologies to help you in your everyday life in the future
Collection 3:
Fight or flight
Here comes ENVIRON – and environmental hero- defending the planet against Humans! Austin has used natural dye processes and shibori for his wing and shield-
G wears futuristic wings with pollution fighting potential
A’s wings can really make her fly! She has used natural dye and shibori and created delicate feathers to help her become airborn!
Fronds and foliage: reconnecting with nature for a sustainable future:
This collection intended to reconnect fashion and textiles with nature.
The pieces created look to leaves and foliage for shapes, surfaces and ideas. The group manipulated the shape of different leaves to fit around the body. Inspired by the ‘World of Wearable Art’ shows the groups aimed to extend their pieces from the body in unexpected and organic ways reflecting natural growth.
The pieces have been embellished using natural dying and ecoprinintg, fabric manipulation, and embellishing with upcycled manufacturing waste from Scrapstore Leeds.
These young people aged 11-17yrs have used this project to explore the boundaries between textiles, fashion and art. To consider non-traditional ways of making and embellishing and to look to nature for an innovative and sustainable future.
The Catwalk:
Jellyfish by artist Isobel Denton at Kayes school
