The best of Scottish fashion will be showcased on the catwalk when Scotland’s Fashion Festival kicks off at the V&A Dundee.
The fashion show, run by social enterprise Scotland Re:Design (SRD), opens on Wednesday, November 17 at the iconic Tayside venue, and is part of the annual fashion festival which has taken place across Scotland, and internationally, since 2005.
The opening night catwalk will showcase the best of Scottish fashion and has been developed around ‘sustainability, equality and technology in fashion’.
The in-person V&A event will be followed by a four-day programme of online events, including Interlace – Scotland’s first gaming and fashion public collaboration event – which takes place online from 5pm on Friday November 19.
This will see leading international game designers, fashion designers and thinkers explore a range of topics from cosplay craft and fashion in games to future design trends and sustainability.
Global participants will include Caitlin Goodale – head of user experience at Drest; Jade How – head of fashion at Lockwood Publishing; Alexandra Orlando – community manager at Kitfox Games; Digital artist/CG generalist Miya Shen, and narrative game designer at Twin Drums Kira Farron.
Taking place the week after COP26, at a time when fast fashion, shoppers and High Streets all face challenges, organisers say the message is clear: to think of new ways to shop, to buy Scottish, shop local, and support each other on the journey towards creating a new, circular and inclusive industry and economy.
Other events include a live music and fashion night in Glasgow, and a pop-up shop and sewing class in Dundee’s Overgate shopping centre.
Supported by Scottish Government
Jenny Gilruth, Scotland’s Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, said: “It’s great to see the return of Scotland Re:Design Fashion Festival and I’m particularly pleased the festival has benefitted from Scotland’s Events Recovery Fund, supported by funding from the Scottish Government.
“This year’s festival focus on sustainability, equality and technology in fashion could not be more timely following Glasgow’s role as the host city for COP26.
“It is fitting, too, that the first night of the festival will take place in Dundee, UNESCO’s City of Design, at V&A Dundee, Scotland’s design museum and centre for design. I wish Scotland Re:Design every success with the festival.”
The decision to centre the festival around three central themes of sustainability, equality and technology in fashion aims to help Scotland’s events sector plan and deliver events in response to Covid-19.
Innovative
Paul Bush OBE, director of events for VisitScotland: “We are delighted to support Scotland Re:Design’s Fashion Festival.
“Congratulations to SRD and BIOME collective launching Scotland’s first gaming and fashion public collaboration which will be broadcast live.
“This is an exciting and innovative development for the festival, and very fitting following COP26.”
Interlace itself will unpack the relationships between games and fashion, reveal innovative ways in which the fashion industry can embrace games and technology and highlight the diversity of work found in both industries.
Dundee experts
As part of the curated collaboration, Dundee based textile designer and maker Kate Scarlet Harvey, and game designer Connie Reid will share highlights of their sponsored exploration on the intersection of their separate practices.
Arcadia festival director Malath Abbas said: “It’s great to explore current and future connections between fashion and games.
“There is so much crossover between sectors and a lot of potential for future collaboration.
“Interlace gives us the opportunity to bring insight from fashion to games and vice versa.
“Fashion connects craft and design to a global market and games are at the forefront of creative and digital innovation across society”.
Economic valuation
SR:D director Chris Hunt said: “Scotland’s fashion industry was recently re-evaluated to be worth a minimum of £2.8 billion to the Scottish economy, employing 10s of thousands of people, plus thousands of creative freelancers with ever growing volumes of students and courses.
“Scotland’s gaming industry is a fast growing, impactful yet also relatively new industry for the Scottish economy, which has flourished and achieved massive global scale from Dundee.
To register for tickets go to www.redesign.scot
