UMPRUM students introduce a collection that's about reflection, not wearability
We follow the work of UMPRUM students every year among the shows at Mercedes-Benz Prague Fashion Week.
While their theme last year was national identity, this year they had a look at the global issue of sustainability. How did the students take it on? It was very original, as always, after all. Don't look for wearability in the UMPRUM collections. Here, the most valued asset is originality, a creative approach to the theme and the power of the message they send out to the world (you) through their work.
Móda proti proudu
Názor PROTI PROUDU: Eva Ledecká
The project is titled Ethical Message
"Sustainability and ethical approach are major challenges in the contemporary fashion industry. We would like to use this project to bring attention to the pointlessness of mass production. We are aware that many things can't be changed, but we want to make people reflect on this topic, and we are looking for new paths," says Head of the Studio of Fashion and Footwear Design, Liběna Rochová, about the project.
These are the topics the media have been throwing at us periodically for some time now: sustainability, ecology, the pointlessness of mass production, renaissance of crafts, zero waste, recycling. Our world is on the edge. It's balancing on the tip of a needle and it is yet to be seen which way it will fall, for now it's suspended in the air. Now's the time for humanity to finally wake up and act. The fashion industry doesn't stand by and keeps looking for ways to fix the issues it shares its own deal of blame for.
We won't be judging the individual collections nor examine whether the models are wearable or not.
The fashion show of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) is about reflection. Take a while and look through the image gallery under our article. Did the message the UMPRUM students want to share get through to you through their work? If it did, they fulfilled their task perfectly!
Názor PROTI PROUDU: Ornella Koktová
Sustainability is indisputably the most relevant topic that UMPRUM could choose.
Two years ago I was a part of a similar project myself (Earth Talks International Film Festival), one that brings attention to this particular issue, so that may be why this topic really hits home for me.
When it comes to the pieces themselves, the theme came through the most in the dresses made out of old carpets. Every now and then I found myself even enjoying it. I viewed it as a modern take on wearable tapestries. But I really wouldn't wanna wash those!
Next we could see some sort of a jacket "sandwich" cinched with a belt. Here they lost me a little bit. It's as if somebody mistook sustainability for another serious topic - homelessness.
