There are several things that come to your mind when visiting Estethica at London Fashion Week this February. To start with, the new venue , in the West Wing of Somerset House, adopted since last edition, is really sophisticated. Exhibitors are accommodated in rooms with a neat aesthetics that has one aim: making collections the only protagonists. Further, it is interesting to note that, besides the usual “aficionados” like Ada Zanditon or Henrietta Ludgate, there are some interesting international emerging talented brands.
Katrien Van Hecke is a Belgian designer from Antwerp that I would rather define a textile and print lover. Her strengths are certainly the high quality of silk she carefully selects from Italy and the quirky prints she makes with natural dyes (photo on the left). She likes to talk of her work as “modern artisanal luxury” referring to the fact that her pieces are one-of-a-kind. Interestingly, she is experimenting other fibres like wool as the jacquard coat (photo on the right) shows made of recycled wool from France.
Liora Lasselle is an emerging upcycling talent, graduated from Central Saint Martins and winning the Estethica/Veolia Re-Source competition. This prize has the aim of rewarding innovative sustainable solutions to fashion. Looking at the collection it is clear that Liora has been mentored by Orsola de Castro at her Reclaim to Wear Studio in London. The pieces have a lot of contrasting features and decorations like reclaimed lace. Liora’s trouser collection is made of pieces made individually in the UK with Italian fabrics and sold through the online store Yooxigen.
Bottletop is a Brazilian social initiative that gives work to women in North East Brazil, the poorest region of the country. The project is not new: making fashion accessories like bags with upcycled metal waste. Bottletop strives for high design and this is not surprising as all pieces are designed by international designers.
Another Brazilian accessories brand is Rudà Rings from Minas Gerais, a very important industrial area in the country. The brand offers rings made of reclaimed wood that is collected from old furniture or demolished buildings. The wood is combined with stones to make statement pieces that are easily exportable. The stones are not necessarily from Brazil but are imported from different countries.
Since last edition, Estethica invites Guest Brands to showcase their collections. Last edition Bruno Pieters with his brand Honest By. was invited and this year it was the turn of Veja. Veja is today recognised for its minimal and contemporary design. It is one of these cases where the product speaks for itself and design and quality are not compromised for sustainability. Not that this is something that has to happen. However, it has happened in the past discrediting the quality of ethical fashion. Also their communication style (left) is seamless explaining in few words what they stand for without shouting it.
