European Fashion Award – Fash 2008

1 / 13 – FASH 2008 Attitude - Entwurfsoption: Schnitte ohne Abfall – 1. Preis Melanie Gros, FHTW Berlin © Andi Frank

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New materials and cuts, secondhand and recycling, favorite pieces and new work processes – these are the ideas for solutions provided by the winning works of the European Fashion Award – FASH 2008. The prized awarded by the The Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation) – SDBI looked for fashion under the title “Attitude” in line with the needs of the environment and social issues this year.

Fashion in line with the needs of the environment and social issues
“Combining fashion, which is subject to continual change, with serious ecological aspects is a highly demanding task. Whoever deals serious with this topic soon discovers that this is a contradiction that is hard to resolve,” SDBI Project Manager Joachim Schirrmacher stated during the festive award ceremony within the framework of ispo winter 08 in Munich.
SDBI celebrated its 30th anniversary on that day. At same time, the non-profit foundation also received an award for its pioneering work pointing the way to the future as a “Selected Landmark 2008” from the location initiative of German government and business world “Germany – Land of Ideas”.

Positions to be taken seriously
“There is no beauty in even the finest clothing if it comes with hunger and infelicity,” prizewinners Sara Fromm and Ilona Zaytseva quoted Indira Gandhi. “Of course, it would make sense if people only bought clothes that they really need,” prizewinner Melanie Gros from the FHTW Berlin wrote in her documentation. “But it seems almost impossible to get consumers to reflect about this, and most companies do not want this from a business perspective.” Students from Hamburg analyzed
why it is so difficult for consumers to take ecological fashion serious despite their awareness of the importance of environmental protection: “The hardly have any direct benefits from this; consumers do not profit, but instead the environment and the society.” This is all the more reason to appreciate the quality of the submitted works, which took on this great challenge. To find a solution at all, they had to take an “attitude”.

New materials and cuts, secondhand and recycling
Melanie Gros cut the fabric in rectangles to make clothes. As a result, about 20 percent waste is avoided. The demanding realisation is so brilliant that the youngest participant in FASH 2008 and student in the fourth semester at FHTW Berlin won first prize. Lauren Gilfillan, Laura Turner and Esther Muir from Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen/Scotland, created wonderful clothes from fabric waste and won 2nd place. Frauke Buschmeyer from the University of the Arts Bremen created favorite pieces, which can be worn many years with her strong, new aesthetics; avoidance of waste is recognized as the most effective way of protecting the environment. She received the 3rd prize of the European Fashion Award FASH. Otto von Busch recognized that our post-industrial society does not need more of the same. The Ph.D. student at Göteborg University questioned the system of fashion to this end. He did not do this to negate it, but instead to renew it. He received the special prize for fashion theory for his work.

The winners are rewarded with a total of 9,500 euros – including 2,500 euros donated by Otto Group. In addition, fabric vouchers worth 2,500 euros from the Swiss Textile Association and paid six-month internships at Falke (Schmallenberg), Schumacher (Mannheim) and at company of the Otto Group were awarded as prizes.
The documentation of all winning works will be accessible to the public in the world’s largest library and graphic art collection about the cultural history of fashion and clothing, the Lipperheideschen Kostümbibliothek in Berlin.

A jury composed of internationally experienced experts from design, industry, marketing, media and commerce selected the prizewinners according to set criteria.
Susanne Fischer – Head of Marketing and Communications – ispo Group, Messe München, GmbH
Marcel Herrig – Unicut Design Limited, ShenZen, China
Ulrike Okbay-Reichert – Head of Buying, Apparel, Otto, Hamburg
Joachim Schirrmacher – Agency for Strategic Communications, Hamburg
Joyce Thornton – Generation Now Editor, WGSN, London

Workshops for career experience
Outstanding creativity is one requirement for designers, but others – knowledge about contracts, customer acquisition, copyrights and rights of use – are also essential prerequisites for successful designers. Following the big success in 2007, well-attended, daily workshops were again offered about these topics for vocational training by the SDBI and the professional association Alliance of German Designers (AGD) during ispo winter 08.

1st Prize: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Melanie Gros “For Square”
4th semester, Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin (University of Applied Sciences, Berlin)
4,000 euros, six-month paid internship at a company of the Otto Group

A square forms the basis of this fall women’s wear collection. Its objective is a cut without waste. Instead of adapting the pattern to the curved body, “For Square” drapes squares on the body. Approximately 20 percent of the cutting scrap is eliminated in this way. “For Square” provides favorite pieces, which can still be worn in 10 years. In spite of their potential long life, the silhouettes are based on current large-scale cuts that fall straight. The skin color black (dyed in line with the strictest directives) is classic, appropriate for the masses and chic. The fabrics are from “fair trade” and come from organic cultivation in Turkey. They vary between soft and warming single jerseys, robust twill and voluminous knitwear.

Jury statement
About 20 percent waste is created during cutting despite the most modern technology. Melanie Gros solved this often-overlooked problem. Her concept of using rectangular materials to make clothes is very demanding in its realisation. This is all the more reason to praise both her aesthetically and functionally brilliant realisation of this idea. You do not even suspect that the clothes are made of rectangular pieces. And this is the case not just for one outfit, but also for the complete collection; even pants were produced. The work is so strong that it works for different occasions and with different colors.
Certainly: “Green is the new black”, because after all black is color that causes problems for the environment. In spite of this, Melanie Gros achieved a good balance between environment and reality. Black clothes have a higher rate of acceptance, are sold correspondingly well and are worn for a long time. The demanding task to design fashion in line with the needs of the environment and social issues using one’s one attitude was solved independently and simply. And this was done as a clear industrial design. This is an outstanding work, especially for a student in her fourth semester!
Jury Member Ulrike Okbay-Reichert, Head of Buying, Apparel, Otto, Hamburg

2nd Prize: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Lauren Gilfillan, Laura Turner, Esther Muir “Eco Pogue Mahone”
6th semester, Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
2,000 euros, Six-month paid internship at Falke, Schmallenberg
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles

Pogue Mahone is a Gaelic four-letter word. The womens’s wear collection “Eco Pogue Mahone” demonstrates that the environment is not a matter of no concern to us. It is composed of production waste of precious “Tartans”, the Scottish material with its clan patterns. Instead of continuing to dump the waste at a landfill, it is woven and sewn into a new material. The created clothing pieces are both beautiful and environmentally friendly. They remind you of a Chanel jacket instead of recycling fashion. The unique jacket in military style is supplemented by a skirt made from a “Blue Ramsay” tartan. The objective of the project is to emphasize the work and craftsmanship, which this rough but stylish material contains, and consequently to keep the history of Scotland alive.

Jury statement
“Eco Pogue Mahone” is a collection with a strong story. The starting point was well selected with waste cuttings of Scottish tartans. Instead of throwing them away, they were processed in a unique way to create new fabric. The collection demonstrates a high degree of development ability. It was not only implemented technically very well, but it also has great design power. The humorous interpretation upvalues traditional material. It again appears young, fresh and up-to-date. The work demonstrates a clear commitment to work-intensive handicrafts and Scotland.
Jury Member Marcel Herrig, Unicut Design Limited, ShenZen, China

3rd Prize: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Frauke Buschmeyer “The Crocodiles Lie in the Gaps”
Graduate, Hochschule für Künste Bremen (University of the Arts Bremen)
1,500 euros, Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles

The Master’s thesis collection “The Crocodiles Lie in the Gaps” is composed of favorite pieces for individualistic women between 20 and 40. They feel pleasant on the skin, and the person wearing it can build up an emotional, imaginative and affectionate relation to them. Favorite pieces are long-lasting, because they do not lose their originality after one season. The carefree perspective of childhood, when everyday matters are exciting, serves to achieve this goal. Four stories by a lion, crocodile, penguin and polar bears inspired the illustrations, cuts, colors and choice of material. The work is also a search for a statement of one’s own between pronounced expressiveness and sensitive presentiments as well as the balance between the design wishes and emotional needs of the women wearing it.

Jury statement
Frauke Buschmeyer bets on avoidance of waste, the most effective way of protecting the environment. The way of implementing her project was worked out in an impressive manner. The starting point was the observation that people like to wear favorite pieces for many years. But how do you create favorite pieces? She selected strongly emotional motifs as inspiration: children and animals. The comparatively complex collection plays with the topic well throughout without placing it in the forefront too much. It remains a means to the end of creating desirable fashion.
The collection has a very strong and new aesthetics; it is joyful and humorous, young and elegant. This is not superficial fashion, but instead self-confident design.
Frauke Buschmeyer obviously knows what she wants and how to do it. She has a great deal of design skill and can give identity to a brand. But not only her conceptual strengths and design skills should be praised, but also her craft skills in implementing new patterns.
Jury Member Joachim Schirrmacher, Agency for Strategic Communications, Hamburg

Special Mention: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Sara Fromm, Ilona Zaytseva “Symbiosis”
6th semester, Hochschule Pforzheim, Fakultät für Gestaltung (Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences)
500 euros, Six-month paid internship at Schumacher, Mannheim
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles

Indira Gandhi provides the motto for the this work: “There is no beauty in even the most finest clothing if it comes with hunger and infelcity.” Consequently, the women’s wear collection “Symbiosis” was developed from a combination of old and new. The basis is formed by industrially manufactured knitwear, which were produced in line with ecological and ethical guidelines. They are traditional in shape and color, can be combined well with one another, and consequently have a long wearing life. The details and patterns come from second-hand clothing. In Germany alone, approximately 300 million clothing pieces are discarded each year, but which are still wearable. The symbiosis is created from the felting of both materials. This produces the individualism, which customers often want. In addition,
the collection concept can be adapted to current trends.

Jury statement
What can we do with the clothing, which we do not wear anymore? Sara Fromm and Ilona Zaytseva have shown a good solution with the felting of used clothing and accessories. They demonstrate a great deal of consistency in their work. Regardless of whether color or material selection, everything fits. Well done!
Jury Member, Joyce Thornton, Generation Now Editor, WGSN, London

Special Mention: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Pia Heise “In Fog”
Graduate, Burg Giebichenstein – Hochschule für Kunst und Design, Halle (Burg Giebichenstein – University of Art and Design, Halle)
500 euros, Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles

The Master’s thesis “The Artificiality of Civilized Life” raises questions about our economic systems and what we need to be happy. It does this apart from ideas influenced by the media and advertising. Instead, it is a question of sharpening our senses. Then people might become aware of the fact that behavior, which is appropriate for living in a society and for the environment, starts in our head. Only then are measures taken, which really help people and the environment. On solution for this issue is shown by the women’s wear collection “In Fog”. It was implemented using discarded German military parachutes as well as used
leather and fur. They get a second life in the collection. Existing bags, backstitching and button holes, seams and ribbons, rings and linen as well as traces of use are employed as design elements.

Jury statement
The collection “In Fog” by Pia Heise reminds us more of artworks than recycling fashion. Consequently, they are part of the current development of the coming together of design and art. The designed collection is strong and independent.
Jury Member Susanne Fischer, Head of Marketing and Communications – ispo Group, Messe München, GmbH

Special Mention: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Pia Niewöhner “Uni(Form)”
8th semester, Hochschule für Künste Bremen (University of the Arts Bremen)
500 euros, Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles

The uni-sex collection “Uni[Form] Appliqué and Mechanisms of the Gelsenkirchen Baroque” plays with everyday culture of the Ruhr area. The cliché of “Gelsenkirchen Baroque” was created there. The term has been used to make fun of the giant Wilhelmine furniture in small workers’ apartments since the beginning of the 1930s. But an aesthetics was created on glutted bodies there, where all workers appeared in the same black “uni[Form]” following a day’s work in the mines: the rabble and anti-social, fine-ribbed material and jogging pants, unisize and 5er pack, Walmart and Primark. Consequently, the design is limited to an (over)size with a two-dimensional language of shapes. Curtain tapes regulate the size and are a connective element. The materials are from stores such as “Moni’s
Fabric Paradise”, where a meter costs two euros. Printed “trimmings” such as bags are a parody on the fascination with brands – the dream of a better life.

Jury statement
Design research takes place not only on paper, but also in practical work as in other disciplines. Pia Niewöhner has taken a very independent path with her work. Especially in times where it is almost only a question of one more of the same this is very praiseworthy. In spite of her investigating aesthetics, which are generally considered tasteless, she created a strong collection with clear silhouettes and proportions. It is harmonious and works well. The restriction to only one size for both sexes is one answer for fashion more in tune with environmental protection.
Jury Member Marcel Herrig, Unicut Design Limited, ShenZen, China

Special Prize Fashion Theory: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
Otto von Busch “Dale Sko Hack”
Ph.D. student, Göteborg University
500 euros

The Dale Sko Hack project aims to reformulate the way we understand fashion production – beyond “Fair Fashion”. A word such as “eco-fashion” is in itself a contradiction that cannot be solved. It is more a question of renewing design and fashion (as it is one of the major forces in identity production as well as our economy) by hacking the operating system of fashion, tuning it, but keeping the power on! “Hacking” in manufacturing is creating a wider interface to the design process for workforce knowledge and craftsmanship, with the help of non-linear participation from the factory workmen, so that each product becomes unique.
This requires a new understanding of design, including of design management. The project was run at Dale Sko factory in Norway together with six Norwegian fashion designers.

Jury statement
Otto von Busch does something that only happens rarely in fashion; he reflects and shows ideas for solutions. He puts the complete fashion world into question in his work. He did not do this to negate it, but instead to renew it. Above all, he poses the right questions. This is difficult, because you must not only now the system in detail, but you also need a pronounced sense of perception and interpretation skills. The quality of a designer is based on these factors. And they are decisive for the future. Work is conducted all too often in the hectic world of fashion on irrelevant problems, indeed according to all rules of art, but to no purpose in the end.
His work should also be highly praised, because dissertations in the area of fashion theory – in the framework of which the distinguished project was created – are very rare. But it is decisive for reflections to come from fashion itself and not to leave interpretations to other disciplines.
Jury Member Joachim Schirrmacher, Agency for Strategic Communications, Hamburg