Learning Discussion Panel
On Meaning: What does fashion embody?
Join Head of Curatorial Lucia Floriana in this conversation with NEWGEN star designers Feben, Nicholas Daley and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy exploring critical aspects that make fashion a tool, a medium and a manifestation.
What to expect
A conversation featuring some of the most influential contemporary British fashion designers exploring critical aspects of the fashion scene in London. Zooming out on what fashion is, and zooming in on deconstructing the social and temporal systems that activates 'dress' as a social signifier in a certain time and context, the conversation will draw from Rebel: 30 Years of British Fashion, our major exhibition showcasing many of the best young designers to have emerged in London over the last thirty years through the NEWGEN programme.
Since the founding of the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN Programme in 1993, successive generations of creative minds have exploded onto the fashion scene, establishing new brands, challenging existing systems and introducing innovative approaches that have influenced fashion globally. NEWGEN offers designers mentoring and business training, financial support, and opportunities to show their work, and recipients are encouraged to take risks, to experiment and above all, to find their voice.
Rebel: 30 Years of London Fashion sponsored by Alexander McQueen is an exhibition in partnership with British Fashion Council celebrating the 30th anniversary of BFC's NEWGEN programme.
Speakers
Charles Jeffrey
Jeffrey, Creative Director of Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY continues to build on his stellar start in the fashion industry, taking on new challenges year on year. From humble beginnings in Charles’ East London bedroom, LOVERBOY is now an international fashion powerhouse, carried in over 90 stores worldwide. Drawn to inherent magic in queerness, Charles and his collaborators create fashion dreamscapes, adding new layers to the brands story with each passing season and creative output.
Feben
Feben is an Ethiopian fashion designer and one of the standout emerging talents of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen cohort. Since her graduation from Central Saint Martins as an Isabella Blow scholar, Feben quickly began making her way into the industry’s consciousness. Feben is renowned for her textural explorations into an amalgamated universe of drapery and tailoring. Her designs have been worn and praised by figures such as Beyoncé, Erykah Badu, Michaela Coel, Celeste and Janelle Monáe.
Dr Lucia Savi
Dr Savi is a curator, historian and writer. She is a scientific committee member of Mudec Museum in Milan and of Fashion Research Network, London (FRN). In 2021 she curated the V&A exhibition Bags: Inside Out and authored its accompanying publication. Dr Savi has a PhD on Italian fashion and textiles and has contributed to exhibitions including Shoes: Pleasure and Pain (2015), The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945–2014 (2014), and Beyond Bloomsbury: Design of the Omega Workshops 1913-1919 (2009).
Nicholas Daley
Daley graduated from Central Saint Martins and launched his eponymous brand in 2015, a practice intertwining personal narrative with wider Black British and diasporic themes, partnering with a range of artisan makers. Daley was the recipient of the 2019 international Woolmark prize semi-final award, was the LVMH Prize finalist winner in 2020 and was awarded the BFC Fashion Trust award in 2021 and the BFC x GQ Designer Menswear Fund winner in 2022.
Book online
Booking information
Adult: £10
Student/Concession: £9
Members: £8
Please note that this benefit only applies one individual cardholding Member’s ticket and not those of additional guests.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Visit our Terms & Conditions page for further information.
The exhibition
REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion
Sponsored by Alexander McQueen. How does London repeatedly set the creative agenda? Find out in this major exhibition celebrating the city's leading role in global fashion. In collaboration with the British Fashion Council (BFC), it celebrates the 30th anniversary of the BFC’s NEWGEN programme.
Background image: REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion exhibition photography by Andy Stagg © the Design Museum