Photo: Malcolm Tam

Fashion & textiles students from Northbrook college showcased sustainable and cruelty-free designs to a wide audience recently at Slow Fashion Week. 

Slow Fashion Week (previously known as Sustainable Fashion Week) is a project run by the Brighton Fashion Collective and aims to celebrate creativity and community action by highlighting sustainable alternatives to fast fashion.  

The week kicked off on Monday, 22 September, with the official event launch party and flash runway, held at the Helm Gallery.  

There was a wide range of student work on display on the runway, including cactus leather outfits in collaboration with Desserto, and upcycled pieces in partnership with Oxfam, all supported by some of the college’s Hair & Make-Up students.  

Photo: Malcolm Tam

It all then culminated at the flagship showcase, held at the Brighton Dome, where students displayed additional pieces during another runway show. The college also had a trade show stand, which featured even more pieces of student work for the public to admire.  

One student who participated in the week was Amy Brigden – she exhibited her work at both the launch event and the finale at the Brighton Dome.  

At the launch event, she exhibited her industry project – a leather outfit tailored to some of the music students at the college, incorporating some of their interests and hobbies.  

She talked through the design of her jacket, saying: “I worked with a music student called Liam, and he wanted that kind of rogue and Skyrim game feel, along with some punky and rocker aspects. He is also a drummer, so I had to make sure his arms were free so he could move properly. 

Amy then went on to talk about the piece she exhibited on the Saturday, saying: “It’s a patchwork piece, with puffy sleeves. I had a really good time making that one – we had loads of support as it was part of our tailoring unit. 

She also described how she had felt taking part in Slow Fashion Week, saying: “It’s been really fun, we’ve met so many people, meeting some of the cool art people, it’s also been really fun working with the models.”  

Students from Brighton MET College also took part in the week, as a variety of creative industries students also exhibited work at both shows.   

For more information about Slow Fashion Week and the Brighton Fashion Collective, click here.