Article by Gabbi Holliday

Edited by Kimberley Nicol

Images by Lightbox

The FS2020 Committee has invited us to escape with them. To escape from our day to day lives, to a world of sustainability, art, and fashion. They have added different rooms for guests to explore as they each write their own story of escapism in PlayHaus.

FS2020 are offering us a utopia – a dream of a fashionable, sustainable future informed by creativity, art and collaboration across disciplines. This is telling from the wide range of speakers present at their FS Sustainability in Fashion Pop Up – from Liberal Democrat MP Chamberlain, to British Fashion Council Associate Niamh Tuft. From the dynamic discussions that took place at this event, the fashion show will be as progressive as its partner, Fashion Revolution: the collection will be full of hope, but with an urgency for change to take place – the main preoccupation of the participants on the panel.

FS celebrates its 28th year with this new and innovative theme. They have begun constructing this world through art installations, fashion swaps, and sustainability pop-up panels, with the hopes of getting their guests to assess their own environmental impact. Sustainability is one of the major pillars behind PlayHaus, and to educate guests further on the topic, the day before the show there will be a Fashion Panel and Pop-Up Shop. This is in support of Fashion Revolution, who is the charity partner of the show this year. “This panel includes notable speakers with backgrounds in luxury goods, environmental policy and business ethics, ensuring an engaging discussion on the impact and future of sustainable fashion.”- FS.

As it celebrates its twenty-eighth year, it looks both to the future and to the past. With a realization that the present we live in is not only “daunting”, but “paralyzing, the focus on sustainability looks both forwards and backwards to challenge the contemporary fast fashion climate, presenting a challenge to large retailers, policy-makers and consumers themselves. The wide ranging expertise of the panel meant discussion encompassed a variety of fields, mentioning not only creatives and designers, but geographers, economists, and government officials, reiterating the message that it is everyone’s responsibility to tackle the challenges of fast fashion and its global impact on workers, climate and consumers alike.

This year’s show features designers such as: Clawdi, Alice Pons, Ripa Ripa, and Walker Slater; with WEISS headlining the afterparty. The evening is set to encourage one to escape from real life and dance the night away in a world where anything could be possible. They have created different rooms, composed of varying color palates in the hopes of showcasing various forms of escapism. They have Sunshine Terrace, the Green House, the Candy Lounge, Heather Hall, and The Red Room.

Get ready to enter PlayHaus and experience the world that has been constructed. Leave all of your fears and inhibitions outside, as this is a world where one can truly be themselves. Be sure to wear your dancing shoes underneath that gown, as the FS2020 Committee wants to have everyone dancing and exploring as we enter into a revolution within the fashion community.

Fashion is meant to be fun, and those involved with the production of this fashion show are aware of that: they are hopeful for a bright future, hopeful for collaboration across professions, disciplines, and communities, engendering further conversation and challenges to the issues at hand. The changes we start to make are small but together we are revolutionary, and we can have fun whilst we do this.

FS: Playhaus Preview: Let’s Escape!