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Queensland slow fashion fashion practitioners bring on the revolution

By Courtney Ingle | 2 April 2019

It is time for a Fashion Revolution – and Brisbane slow fashion practitioners are bringing together an immersive experience on April 26-28 to celebrate all that is local, sustainable and creative.

Brisbane makers and menders, movers and shakers – led by Naomi Huntsman, Jane Milburn, Leah Musch and Kim Bailey – are bringing you a three-day event exploring ways we can revolutionise the fashion system through our choices.

This event is a local expression of the global Fashion Revolution movement born out of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in April 2013 that exposed how people suffer as a result of the way most fashion is made, sourced and consumed.

“By asking questions and living more purposefully, we each can harness our ability to create change – that includes voting more consciously with our dollars,” Naomi Huntsman said.  “We have gathered a remarkable group of people to discuss a range of topics and will be showcasing 12 locally made designers with sustainability and ethics at the core of their creative practice. We have also curated some of the best vintage fashion and quality pre-loved clothing for those with the emerging ethos of buying nothing new.”

“We are integrating hands-on learning with fashion experiences through conversations including: how what we wear matters, diversity and inclusivity within the fashion industry, the sewing renaissance, making for positive change and living locally.”

Fashion Revolution Australia committee member Jane Milburn said the call to action is to be curious, find out and do something.

“Localism is the overarching theme for this event –– meeting the person who made your clothes, learning to make and mend clothes yourself, or bringing a new energy to existing garments through styling and refashion,” Jane said.

“We are growing a slow fashion community to share ideas that transform the way we produce and consume clothes as part of the movement toward de-globalisation.”

You can sign up for the 10-point Fashion Revolution Manifesto, #9 of which is: ‘Fashion measures success by more than just sales and profits. Fashion places equal value on financial growth, human wellbeing and environmental sustainability’.

You can participate in denim sewing on the Saturday with one of our special guests, artist Belinda Smith, who is bringing attention to modern slavery through her Blue Jeans Sisters community project – creating 2000 denim dolls for the exhibition A Fierce Hope at Adderton Brisbane later this year. It is hoped that people share this project and reflect on the decisions they make about the clothes they wear and how, and by whom they are made.

Leading up to the three-day Fashion Revolution Brisbane event from 26-28 April join in an inspirational session in refashioning and upcycling as acts of sustainability and expression of personal style, Refashion: Upcycling Masterclass, held at The Edge, State Library of Queensland on Friday 26 April at 10am, sign up here.

For details of the April 26-28 event, visit our facebook event page or Fashion Revolution website

If you're interested in learning more about the slow fashion movement in Queensland, SLQ holds 'Slow clothing : finding meaning in what we wear / Jane Milburn'.

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