Fashion revolution and sustainability

Fashion design met up with sustainability in Bucharest in mid-April as part of a campaign entitled “Fashion Revolution Week

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 03.05.2022, 12:24

The campaign targeted both the well-known fashion designers and students
in their last years at the National University of Art (UNARTE), and the mélange
between expertise and the courage of exploring things has created absolutely
surprising things.

Roxana Petrescu with the Roxy and Kids Arts Association and the UNARTE
student Mara Malinovski, have told us more on their experience as participants
in the aforementioned event.

Roxana Petrescu: Bucharest
has recently hosted the second edition of an event part of the Fashion
Revolution Week campaign. This is a movement and every year a one-week
campaign is being staged with very clear messages conveyed almost every time. This
year’s message was sustainability. Students from UNARTE (the National
University of Art) have been invited to create garments in an attempt to
reinvent La Belle Époque and to stress the idea of sustainability in fashion.
So, all the materials used, all the fabrics had to be recyclable, obtained and
painted by using natural methods.

We have met the Roxy and Kids Arts Association in the past years at
various events and we’d like to remind you that this is an association founded
in Romania, but which is also running collaborative art projects both in Romania
and in Germany. UNARTE student Mara Malinovski told us about the experience she
and her colleague, Nicoleta Bucşoru, had under the coordination of professor
PhD Daniela Frumusanu with UNARTE, within the Fashion Revolution Week project:

Mara Malinovski:We accepted the challenge of the Roxy
and Kids Association and together with Nicoleta Bucşoru we saw it as an
opportunity to develop what we had learnt so far. The idea of sustainability
was important for us because we were able to use organic dyes in our works. So
we split this work in two and we used turmeric and onion leaves to paint the
fabric. And when we saw the result, how intense it was just from simple plants
and materials that are easy to come by we realized this is a major aspect that
should be promoted in this branch. And I believe that this idea of creating
colours by employing materials that are within easy reach can be very useful in
the fashion world. We are using only natural ingredients for dyes such as turmeric,
onion leaves, red cabbage and rust. I think there are over 50 techniques I have
so far learnt under the guidance of Mrs. Daniela Frumusanu who has taught me
everything I know in terms of using natural dyes.

The results obtained have matched the students’ creativity. Here is Mara
Malinovski again at the microphone.

Mara Malinovski: Together
with my colleague, Nicoleta Bucşoru, I have fashioned a dress that comprises a
corset, which she made out of pressed wool. The dress also consists of three small
bell-shaped skirts to add to the sensation of volume and dynamism of the woman
that wears it. The entire attire is
naturally pained and hand-made, with an original design.

Anything in this world can become an inspiration for a young artist, as Mara
Malinovski has told us.

Mara Malinovski: I believe that absolutely anything can serve as
inspiration and give an artist ideas on how to create things, from the earth we
are moving on to a restaurant table, for instance. I also wish to combine art
and fashion elements and maybe create some revolutionary changes in fashion
design.

Roxana Petrescu from the Roxy and Kids Arts Association, has shared with
us the story of this dress design and its source of inspiration.

Roxana Petrescu: I would like
to tell you how I got to create this dress. After leafing through thousands of works
I found one titled Green Queen, an abstract painting signed by Roxana and Alexander
Ené, in the already known Roxy
and Kids Arts style. I did a little bit of research, what elements we should we
taking from la Belle Epoque, and I decided that maybe this time it would be
better to have a cooperation and that eventually led me to the talented girls
of the UNARTE. So, this Green Queen has served as inspiration for the dress
we exhibit here. This Green Queen painting was part of a project in Germany,
which involved the participation of children with ages between 2 and 4 years.

The exhibition is over, but the Roxy and Kids Arts Association also has
other plans.

Roxana Petrescu: We believe
that whatever happened here should serve as a foundation for a future
cooperation we are now planning with Fashion Revolution in Germany. Roxana Ene already
has the concept of a project with workshops, where people get together and work
with recycled materials. And we are thinking that maybe it wasn’t by chance
that things got in this direction and who knows maybe we could stage a Fashion
Revolution campaign in Germany as well.

In the meantime, the organizers of the Fashion Revolution Week are
striking the balance noting that Fashion Revolution Week is about people and
their deeds in relation with fashion. And a clear message has been conveyed
that you cannot be part of the change if you don’t believe in it.

(bill)