Fashion Capital - Urban wear - Giving something back!

Urban wear - Giving something back!

As part of it's remit the London Fashion Forum has many objectives to cover however one salient aim is to give something back to the community and provide a genuine learning opportunities for our vast array of clients.

Dulwich Youth Centre

In 2002/3 the LFF embarked upon an ambitious programme with the Metropolitan police and the team at Karrot. We facilitated a fashion show which was named Kitch where 10 young teenagers created 6 collections for a catwalk extravaganza held at the Tate Modern. It was a challenging project, sometimes difficult but exceptionally rewarding and finally ended by being a great success for everyone involved at the finale held in September 2003. Mark Scouler, Karrot Team Leader commented "Overseeing everything to do with the collections, LFF's know how and hard work has been absolutely vital to the success of the show".

Following the success of Kitch the project has now been rolled out to Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow - good luck to all involved.

Now we are on another adventure thanks to Dulwich Youth Club. It is a similar concept whereby we are working with a talented bunch of teenagers from the age of 13-19. Week by week we are holding regular updates with the 17 man-strong team guiding them through the design process from garment conception through to finished end garment. The updates will include visits to the two LFF boutiques at Kingly Court and Bluewater, Museum visits, factory visits and sourcing trips for fabric and trims.

A diary section is being organised whereby there will be an overview of the projects and it's progression from a highly talented and persistent team leader Joy Ekpeti. Joy expressed "The teenagers we re working with are fantastic they are full of life and have some wonderfully inspiring ideas with regards to fashion. This project will help them appreciate that you only get out of life what you put in. This project also gives them a new mind set - it's about being positive and having the will to succeed. I will be updating the fashioncapital site every two weeks giving quotes from the teenagers and giving an overview of the projects milestones. I can't wait to get started!

The first part of the project was to develop a brand name and identity for the initiative. Following a brainstorming meeting with the team we shortlisted a few names but the clear winner was Urban Wear.Many thanks to the LFF for agreeing to help us."

The majority of the teenagers are based around Peckham, Dulwich and Southwark and many thanks to Bellenden Old School in Peckham for allowing us to use the school on a fortnightly basis to have our update meetings.

So here we go again...onwards and upwards. From the team of LFF we also can't wait to start this exciting new project. Please find below a few of the budding fashion designers involved in the Urban Wear project. Please keep posted and follow the journey, the traumas, the highs and lows of the Urban Wear label.

Jenny Holloway

Industry Advisor

The following are Bibliographies of some of the guys and girls who attend the Dulwich Youth Centre in Peckham.

Leah Lewis - pic and bio to come