Louise has created FAD’s innovative competition briefs. As FAD aims to develop talent in the fashion industry, we thought we’d ask Louise a few questions about fashion…starting with the basics:

Louise, what exactly is fashion? How do you define it?

Personally I see it as a creative response to a given place at a particular time, e.g.: London in the 1960’s, Medieval Venice, Dior’s ‘New Look’ in post-War Paris… the possibilities are endless... Every place has its ‘fashion moment’.

Ultimately though, Fashion is a mirror in the sense that it reflects and absorbs the culture and society it comes from. Sometimes Fashion reflects one particular culture, sometimes it reflects several or many cultures. But the greatest cultural and fashion diversity is usually found in cities. Cities are often capitals of culture, and they are usually multi-cultural centres of commerce, centres of innovation.

The word Urban comes into each of the briefs you have written for the FAD competition. Why do you think that urban space is so important for fashion?

Urban fashion reflects not just the look but the pace of urban life: this means fashion that is fast-paced, edgy, constantly evolving. Because the city changes, fashion is fleeting – designs are often a response to a given time, a set place, a fleeting mood, in other words ‘fashion moments’.

The designers’ job is basically to capture, reflect and re-interpret the fast-paced changes of city life. He/She can perhaps be seen as a creative filter for the city, Another way of looking at the designer is as effectively the city’s artist, someone who reflects the city’s essence, trends and spirit through his/her designs. He/She can enchant, beguile or disgust the public with an ugly/beautiful picture of their city. In this sense, fashion is art, and all art is political in that all art has a message, and reflects the society, public or environment which it comes from. All fashion gives a message, consciously or not, about its wearer and, in turn, the wearer’s essence, core, spirit and identity.

You also bring Art into each the briefs. Can you tell us more about it?

If fashion is art, art has its own way of communicating, its own ‘tools’ for communicating if you like. Art uses pictures not words to communicate, to convey a message. It communicates through symbols and visual shorthand.

Read in this language of colour, cut, texture, detail, clothing can be both a reflection and a symbol, an arrow pointing from outside to within, from the physical and the concrete form, from the city’s physical material, of glass, building and stone, to its soul, its spirit, its essence. I mean this in the sense that the stones clothe the spirit; the flesh clothes the soul… ultimately clothes express the wearer’s inner core.

What message do fashion designers give? What voice? Or choice to the consumer?

To design means basically to create, whether it’s an image, a symbolic message, or a reflection of the society you live in and the city which surrounds you.

What are you asking the students participating in the 6th FAD Competition to do?

We ask the students to translate this into a contemporary form looking at the sculptor Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude and their understanding of wrapping architecture to create a new space within the existing environment. In the 60’s, they secured strips of fabric together to help maintain the shapes of their chosen “ancient monument “ which were essentially skyscrapers, but the figures loom on the skyline as do the pyramids in modern Egypt. We determine the shapes by the visual of the Pyramids outside the walls of Cairo itself. 2 very different nerve centres

1) the hustle and bustle of the trading souks, a hive of industry of craftsmen, and symbols

2) the calm pyramids in the dry desert landscape with its protrusions and strange presence,.

Set apart yet working alongside the other in harmony and juxtaposition at the same moment…….

The two designers we are looking at and their influences from space and the environment are Hussein Chalayan and Hamish Morrow. Their work reflects an inner concept that surpasses fashion as we know it, and creates a more lasting impression on the psyche.

And finally….

Mary Eyre is a Director of Fashion Awareness Direct. We talked to Mary about the connection between fashion, self-esteem and enhancing your own inner dignity…

I think that talking of appearance, and following any fashion that is becoming to you, can give a strong message about the value you set on yourself as a person. If someone wants to be taken seriously in our society, which judges so much by appearances, one must be aware of changes in fashion, and new cultural influences. These must be adapted to one’s particular style, emphasising the good points, yet reflecting personal values

A woman may want to look feminine, but without making herself into a sexual object. Creating individual style is an on-going process, season by season, responding to new ideas produced by talented designers. Looking good is very important to one’s self-confidence. Dress needs to reflect a sense of worth and dignity. Being appropriately dressed shows respect for the company in which you find yourself, whether with young or old, rich or less well-off, sophisticated or simple. A woman uses fashion to look her best which makes her friends appreciate her, feel comfortable with her, and enjoy her company.