• Home
  • Education
  • News
  • London College of Fashion receives 250,000 pound grant for new research project

London College of Fashion receives 250,000 pound grant for new research project

By Veerle Versteeg

loading...

Scroll down to read more

News

The work 'Traces: Stories of Migration', by Lucy Orta. Photo Credits: University of the Arts London

The London College of Fashion of the University of the Arts London has received 250,000 pounds (about 234,000 euros) in funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a new research project on sustainability.

The project titled ‘Decolonising Fashion and Textiles - Design for Cultural Sustainability with Refugee Communities’ will commence in September 2022 and research is expected to continue over a two-year period, per a news release on the school’s website.

The project led by Dr. Francesco Mazzarella, senior lecturer in Fashion and Design for Social Change at the London College of Fashion is a research proposal by the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at LCF. The goal of the project is to advance a cultural sustainability agenda within the context of the fashion and textile industry in order to eventually develop a framework for ‘decolonised design practice.

The LCF research team will collect historical information about cultural heritage, more specifically the textile heritage, from refugee communities based in East London by working together with these communities to collectively outline how to work towards a sustainable future.

The project will adopt a holistic approach to sustainability and design by adding a cultural dimension to research sustainability by exploring artisanal practices in the textile and fashion field, carried out by local refugee communities.

According to the release on the school’s website, the textile heritage of minorities has often been subjected to ‘abusive cultural appropriation practices’ and has often been undervalued by being labelled as ‘non-fashion’.

‘Decolonised Fashion and Textiles’ aims to free fashion and textile design from ‘its legacies of colonial thought’, and to instead highlight refugee communities’ contribution to cultural sustainability, community resilience, and social entrepreneurship.

“With the mass displacement of people on the rise, it is clear that we need to rethink and address the needs and aspirations of refugee minority communities and find ways to honour their diverse cultures,” said Dr Mazzarella.

“[The grant] will enable London College of Fashion to work collaboratively with refugee communities and a wide range of partner organisations in order to rebalance power dynamics in design research and practice, widen the fashion system, and foster cultural sustainability, community resilience and social entrepreneurship – all urgently needed in a time of climate emergency and in the fact of our collective uncertain future.”

London College Of Fashion
Sustainable Fashion