Fashion Studio Magazine: FASHION EVENTS

Press Release

ALTERNATIVE FASHION WEEK

presented by Alternative Arts

16 - 21 April 2012

Photo courtesy of Alternative Arts

London, UK - Alternative Arts invites you to apply to participate in ALTERNATIVE FASHION WEEK which will take place in the new Spitalfields Traders Market, Crispin Place, Brushfield Street, London, E1 6AA from 16 - 21 April 2012.

ALTERNATIVE FASHION WEEK is firmly established as the event for innovative young designers to show their work. There is world-wide press and media coverage and an audience of over 1000 each day.

Supporting upcoming fashion designers

60 ORIGINAL DESIGNERS will be selected and offered the opportunity to show their work free of charge. We provide the runway, live music, publicity, changing rooms and refreshments. You provide the clothes, we provide a pool of models – or you can bring your own.

THE FASHION SHOWS take place every day from 1.15 to 2.15pm. Up to 14 designers are exhibited per show. There is also a Fashion Market from 11am to 5pm with a wide range of clothes, textiles and accessories. Designers may also have a stall for which there is a charge of £150 for the week (£30 per day)

ADMISSION TO EACH SHOW IS FREE Invitations and press passes are widely distributed. Front row seats may be reserved in advance by buyers and the press. Family and friends are welcome.

ALTERNATIVE ARTS is not an agency. We are a publicly funded arts organisation, not commercial promoters. We present fashion as an exciting and original art form. We provide a free programme listing every designer so that they can be reached directly by buyers and the press.

Photo courtesy of Black Milk Clothing

Celebrating the ‘alternative’ approach to fashion

Alternative Fashion Week is unlike any other fashion week. Open to everyone and free to the designers to participate, the energy and atmosphere are palpable. Running for a full week with 15 shows a day, attracting audiences of over 10,000 and with a vibrant fashion market of wild and wonderful accessories, this event is a prime example of how imagination and resourcefulness can overcome a mountain of economic obstacles and promote sustainability.

In 1993 Spitalfields was a deserted, run down area with a huge empty market building. Today it is probably the most exciting cultural quarter in London with its markets, art galleries, shops, restaurants and bars attracting millions of visitors every year. Alternative Fashion Week has played its part in regenerating the area, raising its profile to a global audience and promoting hundreds of new designers.

Alternative Fashion Week has established an international reputation with world-wide press coverage. Every year Alternative Arts is overwhelmed by the number of young designers hoping to establish their label applying from all over the country, and other parts of the world, to have a catwalk show. We invest in innovation and ideas. This is fashion on the edge, risky, experimental, fashion for the future. It’s not about money or material success but inspiration and ideology, how to have designer fashion in the current financial climate, thrifty & thrilling, offering a world of real opportunities. Alternative Fashion Week provides that vital stepping stone between the graduate shows and the mainstream fashion industry.

London Alternative Fashion Week 2009 (Photo by Adeyinka Adepitan)

Alternative Fashion Week is concerned to raise environmental awareness and actively supports recycling and ethical sourcing. Each year a growing number of collections supports these themes.

All our models are new. Our modelling course responds to requests from a large number of young people (and some older ones) wanting to gain experience. We are proud of the diversity of the participants, and many of them come from East London. The course is entirely free and run by a top choreographer for six weeks prior to the shows.

Alternative Arts produces Alternative Fashion Week. We are a publicly funded arts organisation presenting fashion as an exciting and original art form. Every year we have to raise the funds to present the week. We are always looking for sponsors as well as being supported by the Spitalfields Estate and Hammerson. We also support charities who take up a collection at each show.

Source: Alternative Arts