By embracing an innovative approach to textile use the fashion industry can minimise waste, prioritise renewable resources and lessen environmental impact. Collarts are bringing together fashion designers, educators and entrepreneurs to discuss the ways they are looking to both the future and the past to solve the challenges that textiles bring to the fashion industry.

The event is designed to enable social connection through the sharing of textile knowledge and practical approaches to create a new fashion future. It forms part of the Collarts x MFW23 partnership project and will use examples of the work produced by Collarts School of Design students (from Fashion & Sustainability, Fashion Marketing and Photography). This collaborative project (on show during the MFW2023 Progressive Parade event) focuses on the ways we can enhance the world of fashion through innovative use of textiles.

HOST

SARAH CONNERS

Sarah has worked as a slow fashion practitioner and academic for many years, focusing on the creation of accessories. She is now the programme lead for Fashion & Sustainability at COLLARTS, exploring a new fashion future

PANELISTS

LUCIANNE TONTI

Lucianne is a writer and consultant, she has worked in sustainable and luxury fashion in Melbourne, Sydney, London and Paris since 2008. She is the Fashion Editor for The Saturday Paper and a regular contributor to The Guardian where she writes the column Closet Clinic about how to care for your clothes. Lucianne is also the author of Sundressed: Natural Fibres and the Future of Fashion.

TAMARA LEACOCK

Tamara is the designer and creator of R E M U S E, a wearable art practice rooted in resilience and reimagining new futures for adornment for contemporary bodies. Tamara has trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Paris American Academy and received a dual Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in Latin American Studies and International Studies. She further went on to pursue a Masters of Arts in Individualised Study at New York University focused on fashion as a vehicle for social justice.

SAMANTHA DELGOS

Industry Relations Manager at the Australian Fashion Council (AFC)