Rokit x London College of Fashion; Trash: Challenging Perceptions of Waste

Trash: Challenging perceptions of Waste.

A sustainability focused collaboration between Rokit Originals and London College of Fashion designed to utilise the abundance of pre-worn textile in the creation of new garments.

Rokit is proud to showcase the competition winners and runners up in the window displays in our Covent Garden and Brick Lane stores

As a new season of London Fashion Week approaches, Rokit is pleased to announce a collaboration with London College of Fashion. As the U. K’s leading vintage retailer, sustainability within fashion is a core tenant of our business. We challenged students to develop collections based on the ethos of our own Rokit Originals line. Innovative clothing created sustainably by reworking surplus vintage and post-consumer textile.

Students worked in groups and selected a visionary figure alongside an allocated fashion movement. These would serve as inspiration for their collections. The students were then given bags of textile to create their collections with. This textile was all unsalable in its present form and is representative of the waste produced by the fashion industry’s current business model. Emphasis was placed on the students fully re-contextualising the material they were given, limiting waste by using as much of the textile as possible, and that their designs displayed innovative multi-functionality.

The winners of this collaboration will have their work featured in the windows of our Brick Lane and flagship Covent Garden store over London Fashion Week and beyond, serving as an example of the possibilities within the future of sustainable fashion.

If you are based in London head down to one of the stores and check out the installation.

COVENT GARDEN:

The Winners

Zaha Hadid / 1990s Minimalism

Wei Deng, Charlene Namukasa, Cleo Luana Diogo Fernandes, Mari Mikitski.

A collection that reads both of its architectural inspiration Zaha Hadid and of its decade in the form of 1990s Japanese deconstruction. The garments are fully realised and redesigned yet still have a playful hint of what pre-existed. Origami style ruffles in checked shirting fabric snake across a minimalist black jersey dress with a plunging neckline. Retaining the buttonholes from their former purpose, the ruffles can be unbuttoned from the dress giving the wearer the option of changing colour combinations or simply removing the ruffles completely. Plastic piping is used in a checked skirt panel creating a curvature evocative of Hadid’s fluid architecture. Fastenings were used throughout the collection to allow the wearer full control over the garment. Poppers unfastened and refastened allow an infinite number of different sculptural forms. D-rings with straps reminiscent of Westwood-era bondage gear allow for panels of fabric to be lengthened or removed altogether. Although the construction of the garments is strikingly complex, minimalism is the predominant aesthetic. The double strapped open camisole top paired with monochrome raver trousers being one of our favourite looks.

Runners up

Simone de Beauvoir / 1960s Youth Quake

Zak Moore, Aimee O’Connor, Jingchun Huang.

The 1960s revisited in the form of a new take on Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Mondrian dress. Patchworked fleece, jersey, wool and corduroy were used throughout the collection giving a cohesiveness difficult to achieve given the limited fabric available to use. The classic A-line mini dress was given a new modern relaxed shape. Cut-outs, a favourite trope of the 60s were given a new functionality. Head and armholes interchangeable allowing the wearer to decide on the shape of the garment.

BRICK LANE:

Nina Simone / 1980s Power Dressing

Dan Ren, Selin Bailey, Arsya Giri, Francesca Nault.

1980s power dressing was given a contemporary twist in this highly structured collection. Denim, leather and canvas were utilised to create a modern take on tailoring. Many tropes of 80s fashion were played with and modernised. A ruched long sleeve top with bulbous shoulders was evocative of the prim fills and piecrust collars of the decade. A reversible double-breasted jacket featured unattached tweedy shoulder pads, dropped from the shoulder to midway down the arm. Lapels and collars are detachable and jut angularly creating contemporary shapes. Particularly innovative was a long hessian belt decorated with a laser-cut leather chain detail, proving that even scrap fabrics can be utilised to create beautiful garments.

Zaha Hadid / 1920s Liberation

Jacobo Angulo Martinez, Yue Lu, Brianna Saad, Monika Wiatrak, Zhen Yang.

Overtly feminine with a daring twist this collection evokes a femininity in flux in keeping with its 1920s inspiration. Garments were constructed predominantly from lingerie and undergarments in flesh tones. Frills and ruffles were used throughout often using lining fabrics which gave hems a Hadid-esque fluidity. The daring sexuality of the era is represented by a pair of lingerie inspired chaps with risqué thigh cut-outs and layered champagne frills. A pair of trousers with a voluminous half-skirt is a hybrid piece that evokes the challenging of gender norms in the era of the flapper.

Have a look at all of the designs below.