LCF to host exhibition tracing the social impact of fashion

London College of Fashion (LCF), University of the Arts London (UAL) has announced a new, free fashion exhibition to coincide with the opening of its new, single-site campus at East Bank on Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park this October.

‘Designed for Life,’ will run from October 2 to January 19, 2024, and will explore LCF’s decades-long commitment to harnessing fashion, design, and creative practice as a force for positive social change.

The inaugural exhibition will feature key themes, including East London as home, reciprocal learning as community building, empowerment through making, global emergencies through creative expression and visions of a more sustainable and equitable future, which will be presented across five immersive showcase areas in LCF’s new building.

LCF aims to demonstrate how design and fashion can foster community cohesion, generate high-quality artistic content, provide employment and training opportunities, and support those who are seeking safety and rebuilding their lives after displacement.

Participant wearing garment from Making for Change’s 1,000 coats project *Credits: LCF by Adam Razi*

Visitors will encounter textiles, design, film, photography, artefacts, and personal case studies, many of which have never been on display to the public, including notable work from LCF’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion researcher and artist Professor Helen Storey that will be displayed collectively as a whole for the very first time.

This includes ‘Dress for Our Time,’ a decommissioned refugee tent donated by the UNHCR, displayed with new data from the UNHCR’s work tracing migrant statistics, the Jacket of Wishes, designed to protect the modesty of those wearing the Dress for Our Time in the Middle East, and the previously unseen project Messages of Hope, created in collaboration with the TIGER Girls (These Girls Enjoy Reading).

Designed for Life exhibition to open at London College of Fashion in October

Other highlights will include Centre for Sustainable Fashion, LCF researcher and artist Lucy Orta’s project ‘Traces: Stories of Migration,’ a collaborative series of textile-based artworks portraying images of the array of east London communities with migration experiences. As well as work celebrating LCF’s Portal Centre for Social Impact, including Making for Change, established by the Ministry of Justice and LCF, UAL in 2014.

Decolonising Fashion and Textiles participant with their textile photo-story. *Credits: LCF by JC Candanedo*

In addition, the exhibition will showcase pieces from Centre for Sustainable Fashion LCF’s Decolonising Fashion and Textiles Project, a long-term community-based research workshop project led by Dr Francesco Mazzarella, including short films by David Betteridge, and have an interactive Living Room installation reflecting and representing a broad heterogeneity of lives and experiences in East London, co-created by a team of community curators.

There will also be works and events by East London Art Prize recipients Woo Jin Joo, Sophie Cunningham and Alaa Alsaraji developed in collaboration with Bow Arts.

Lindsay Pentelow, head of cultural programming at London College of Fashion, UAL, said in a statement: “This exhibition serves as a momentous occasion, heralding the inauguration of our East Bank campus situated within the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Designed for Life stands as a testament to our mission to change lives through fashion and to lead the charge in cultivating a future where the impact of fashion is embraced and celebrated for its boundless reach and is the perfect way to launch our new Cultural Programme and welcome the public into our new home.

“We cannot wait to welcome our new neighbours and visitors to explore the countless stories of decades of collaborations with our partners and community collaborators through an array of textiles, film, photography, and personal narratives. With themes reaffirming our local, regional and global community’s unwavering dedication to harnessing the dynamic force of fashion and creative expression to instigate positive change we hope visitors leave Designed for Life considering all the ways fashion and creativity can forge unity and ignite empowerment through meaningful employment.”