Shelter Scotland x Scottish Fashion Festival

Fashion For Social Change Award 2023

Organised by Scotland Re:Design #SRD23

For the second year, we are pleased to have had another fabulous cohort participate in our Shelter Scotland design competition. 2022 was the first year we partnered with Shelter Scotland on this competition and it was a huge success. The final designs had a wide array of influences and approaches.

Designers participating this year had access to all Shelter Scotland stock and fabrics to create their winning Looks for the Runway at V&A Dundee, as Shelter Scotland is such a fashion forward organisation working in sustainable style with partners including Vivienne Westwood and AllSaints, plus Graduate Fashion Week. SRD is thrilled to create and forge this unique opportunity for Scottish fashion to develop work in the not for profit sector network, centred around two of core pillars of equity and sustainability.

We were blown away again this year with the winning designs which took to the runway at V&A Dundee on Friday 17th November 2023. Designs were created by the following winners:

1. Isla Gibb

2. Jayne Stephen

3. Katrina Lindsay

4. Lauren Malcolm

5. Rory Houlihan

6. Solenn Alvarez

7. Samantha Campbell

8. Vevar

Who are Shelter Scotland?

They exist to defend the right to a safe home and fight the devastating impact the housing emergency has on people and society. They believe that home is everything. In 2021 Shelter Scotland updated their brand to reflect their core proposition: ‘We exist to defend the right to a safe home’. Their brand provides us with the tools to be positively disruptive, vocal and iconic and is inspired by the spirit of activism.

Inspired by the visual language of protest and the grassroots movement they came from; their symbol is handmade from red paint brush strokes. they use the paint brush effect to emphasise and amplify important messaging, and to add extra meaning.

What is the competition?

The Designers will seek to develop and create fashion around the theme of 'activism' for housing rights. Start a conversation, share stories, educate people. Our objective is to use the most powerful designs in a catwalk show that demonstrates the power of fashion.

We asked Designers to research the issues, use personal experiences and talk to friends. How can you use fashion as a vehicle to educate and drive positive change in society? Also, how do you integrate sustainable thinking into your idea?  This is a key element to consider with your proposal/entry. Extending the life of clothes and minimising waste is critical if we are to be pro planet in our society.

Eight winners have now been selected, and they are currently hard at work creating their looks. We asked them to develop and create fashion around the theme of 'activism' for housing rights. Start a conversation, share stories, educate people. The objective is to use the most powerful designs in a catwalk show that demonstrates the power of fashion. Each designer will create a full runway-ready look exploring the themes outlined in the design brief.

The designers have been asked to research the issues, use personal experiences, and talk to friends. How can they use fashion as a vehicle to educate and drive positive change in society? Also, how do they integrate sustainable thinking into their idea? Extending the life of clothes and minimizing waste is critical if we are to be pro-planet in our society.

We would like to thank UNESCO City of Design: Dundee, Shelter Scotland, The Scotland 5G Centre, Dundee City Council, Tay Cities Region Deal, and V&A Dundee for their support #SRD23 #designdundee #ShelterScotland #vadundee