EPISODE 110 FEATURES MADDIE WILLIAMS, HELEN KIRKUM & DURAN LANTINK

What's driving the fashion's latest obsession with upcycling? And how far can it go? Might fashion stop using virgin materials completely one day? 

Upcyling means taking something that’s been discarded, is usually unloved and considered trash, and transforming it into something new, and of a higher quality.

It has become a major fashion buzz word, thanks to designers like Marine Serre in Paris, and even Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. But it’s the next generation that's really pushing it.

This week, you’ll meet three emerging designers: Londoners Maddie Williams and Helen Kirkum, and brilliant Dutch trouble maker Duran Lantink. 

Don’t forget to go back and listen to Episode 70 with Matthew Needham, Patrick McDowell and Bethany Williams, and Episode 69 with the original Queen of Upcycling, Orsola de Castro.

CAST

MADDIE WILLIAMS London-based designer Maddie Williams won the Redress Award for emerging sustainable fashion designers in 2019. She is a graduate of Edinburgh University’s Fashion Design BA course, and once interned at Vivienne Westwood. Maddie says, “Through my work I try to show that ‘eco’ fashion can still be exciting and avant-garde, aiming to dispel the assumptions of it having to be minimal, or hippie or overtly home-crafty. My work plays with silhouette and texture and crosses the boundaries between fashion, costume and fine art.”

MENTIONED IN THE INTERVIEW….

CORN DOLLIES Pagans believed that the spirit of the corn lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless. By making a doll out of corn ears, the corn spirit could be '“housed” their over winter - until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow next season.

CHARLES FREGER ‘s extraordinary folk photography can be found here.

Watch BUTTON MOON here.

HELEN KIRKHAM An artist and custom-sneaker designer based in East London Helen Kirkum is known for her reworking of discarded and recycled sneakers, with an emphasis on craftsmanship, human agency and stories. Helen trained at the Royal College of Art and interned at Grenson, and won the inaugural Cordwainers' National Footwear Student of the Year Award in 2014. The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers is one of the ancient trade guilds of London, and dates back to the 1300s.

Since then, Helen has worked on numerous high-profile collaborations with the likes of Adidas, Lacoste and Melissa. She has made shoes for RUNWAY shows, including Lacoste, Bethany Williams and most recently at LFW, the Central St Martins MA show, opened by Matthew Needham.

Clare spoke to Helen in Milan, where she was part of the A New Awareness exhibition, created by Vogue Italia’s Sara Maino. Listen to Sara’s Episode here. Helen and Duran were also part of this season’s POSITIVE FASHION showcase at London fashion week.

Read Helen’s interview with High Snobiety here.

Check out TRAID charity shops here.

DURAN LANTINK Dutch designer Duran Lantink is known for his upcycling methods and collage techniques. Is he an upcycler or a destroyer?! He’s certainly dangerous with scissors.

‘His principle ethos is a desire to produce clothing using innovative, sustainable and ethical practices. The collections are based on repurposing and mix matching luxury items. His attention to off season luxury items sparked when he tried to answer the following questions; When does clothing get a label of disposable fashion? What happens when fashion becomes fast, unnecessary ?’ Via LVMH.

Along with Bethany Williams and Bode by Emily Bode, Duran was one of the finalists in the LVHM Prize for 2019. Read more here.

Read about the International Fashion Showcase here.

By the way, Duran made Janelle Monáe’s famous VAGINA PANTS.

A New Awareness was launched at Milan fashion week in September 2019 (pictured below, left to right: Matteo Ward, Orsola de Castro, Marina Spadafora, Hakam Karaosman, Clare and Sara Maino). Read about it here.

MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.

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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x