In a world of waste, we choose zero.

In a world of machines, we choose the human touch.

Last May, Eco Fashion Week Australia (EFWA) brought the Buya Subi Project fashion show to a full house at the Vancouver Public Library.

Led by founder and creative director Dr. Zuhal Kuvan-Mills, the runway showcased work from 21 designers from Australia and beyond.

Related story: Okaridge Park redefines luxury retail in Vancouver

Dr. Kuvan-Mills is no stranger to the Vancouver fashion community. Nearly a decade ago, she debuted one of her first collections at Vancouver Fashion Week.

Today, she calls the city her second home, crediting its designers and journalists with reconizing her talent and encouraging her path in fashion.

The Buya Subi Project launches a new four-year EFWA initiative exploring the intersection of culture and sustainable fashion.

It is a landmark collaboration between EFWA, the Central Sulawesi government, the Consulate General of Indonesia in Vancouver and the UN Sustainable Development Goals initiative. 

At the centre of the project are women in Palu, Indonesia, who handcraft silk textiles on manual looms using a tradition more than 300 years old. EFWA is helping preserve that heritage at a time when globalization continues to pressure local craft communities.

Buya Subi, a traditional textile from Central Sulawesi, is more than a handwoven fabric. It embodies community, tradition, and a deep respect for the environment.

With support from the Sulawesi government, each of the 21 participating designers received two square metres of Buya Subi fabric and was invited to create a runway look around it.

The resulting pieces honoured the textile’s cultural significance, foregrounded environmental responsibility, and helped create a pathway for local women to build a sustainable craft economy through tourism.

Ultimately, the Buya Subi Project is about more than preserving textile heritage, craftsmanship, and design. It is also an invitation to rethink how—and why—we buy fashion.

Photos: Simon Lau

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The Busselton Jetty, the world’s second longest and southern hemisphere’s longest timber-piled jetty, will be transformed into the world’s longest catwalk in November for Australia’s Sustainable Fashion Festival 24. 

Located in the heart of Western Australia’s South West, this month-long festival will host spectacular global fashion shows. Its goal is to promote eco-friendly, ethical, and sustainable fashion.

Related story: The IT bag for spring

Presented by Eco Fashion Week Australia (EFWA), this ground-breaking event will transform the Australian fashion landscape and redefine the industry. 

The event will draw fashion lovers, designers, and sustainability advocates worldwide to the festival in Busselton and Perth. Set against the stunning backdrop of WA’s South West region. 

The festival includes runway shows, artist’s talks and workshops, fashion art exhibits, an upcycling challenge, sustainable fashion, and art exhibits.

Festival Director Zuhal Kuvan Mills says the event will provide a global stage for designers to present fashion in the new age of the Anthropocene, a term used to describe an epoch shaped by human activity’s impact on climate change.

“It’s been estimated that 92 million tonnes of textile waste go into landfills around the world every year,” says Zuhal. Cheap, fast fashion means people wear many of their clothes just a few times before throwing them out.

That comes at a huge environmental cost, and we urgently need to find ways to make fashion more sustainable.

The Sustainable Fashion Festival 24 will present ‘Closet of the Anthropocene’ to showcase the collections of more than 80 international and Australian designers who source sustainable materials and textiles to create unique pieces.

Mills is organizing her fourth Sustainable Fashion Festival in Australia, and Busselton Jetty is the perfect kickoff venue.

They look forward to inviting the world to join them on a sustainable fashion journey. Everyone can get involved, no matter their age, background, or fashion sense. You can learn more at EFWA.

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Titled “Closet of the Anthropocene,” their third international event will include a series of fashion runway shows and exhibitions at various art galleries starting in November 2024.

“Anthropocene” defines a new geological epoch or planetary era in which human activity impacts the ecological balance of the planet and is the main driver of change, on a global scale.

Above Photo: The Face of EFWA 2022, Talisha Lee-Karuthiru. | Zuhal Kuvan-Mills

Fashion artists invited to exhibit

EFWA 2024 will explore this geological era and its implications on design, textiles, art and fashion disciplines. 

For the past several years, the luxury fashion industry has focused on their sustainability practices which has become top of mind with consumers as to the impact of manufacturing on our planet. 

The festival will bring together over 50 international and Australian fashion artists using sustainable textiles and fabrics. Plus examine the relationships between fashion and geology, and the future of Anthropocene.

Related story: Australian Eco-Fashion designers steal the show

Swan Valley to host EFWA 2024

The fashion shows are held in Swan Valley region followed by art exhibitions in Fremantle, Geraldton and Bunbury, Western Australia.

”I hope that visitors who view our shows and exhibitions will think deeply about the beauty of our world and how important it is for us to protect it,” said Zuhal Kuvan-Mills, Visual Artist, Curator and Founder of EFWA which is based in Western Australia. “We have a responsibility as fashion artists and consumers, to do our part in protecting our planet.” 

EFWA’ Closet of Anthropocene will faciliate a discussion with artist and consumers on waste, pollution, consumption and environmental destruction. Also make a call for optimism with new ways of imagining a vibrant fashion future.

Watch for further EFWA 2024 news here at Style Drama.

Updated: This story has been updated with EFWA scheduled in November 2024.

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Fashion history tells us that social disruptions such as political and economic events like the great depression and World War II have had far greater influence on fashion than seasonal trends.

During World War II, everything from food to steel to fabrics was rationed for the war effort so our parents recycled old clothes and even curtains to make new things for their children.

Christian Dior’s New Look

The post-war years gave birth to Christian Dior’s extravagant New Look which was defined by long skirts with corset waists. This type of extreme European elegance would not have been politically acceptable during the war.

Above Photo: Duomo of Milan | Daniil Vnoutchkov on Unsplash

Luxury retail therapy is real

Today, Athleisure may encourage more people to adopt the same look in public regardless of what activity they’re engaged in, day in and day out. But for the wealthy, luxury retail therapy is very real. WWD reports that upon reopening, the Hermes boutique in Guangzhou, China brought in sales of US $2.7M in one day. While many of you continue to lounge in your leggings, the luxury sector is more resilient than most people realize.

We are all eager to return to normality – to get outside, connect with family and friends, travel beyond the borders Covid-19 has imposed upon us. Doubtless, a revival of personal style will be part of this journey. 

Australians take out the bin

Consider some of the ways that Covid-19 has already influenced fashion. In Australia, for example, women are dressing up in their wedding gowns to take out the garbage. The pictures they’re posting on Instagram – hauling trash cans to the curb in swathes of white silk, satin and chiffon – are a cheeky reminder that, these days, your bin goes out more than you do. We all have to create our own opportunities to dress up.

New York street photography evolves

Meanwhile in New York, street fashion photography has been replaced by demure images of Kate Middleton-style looks taken at home and posted each Sunday on Instagram. Though the content may have shifted to a more reserved aesthetic, even in the middle of a pandemic, many still crave those ‘likes’. 

So, fashion is still part of our lives, a way to express our moods and identities even during the most challenging of times. We will survive Covid-19 and it will change the face of fashion. 

Together, we will celebrate life and personal style once this has passed. I, for one, can’t wait to see what the next stage of fashion history will look like.

Be kind, stay home and stay safe!

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Sylvia Calvo’s unique designs answer the question what do you get when you cross high fashion with waste fabric? In fact, creating fashionable collections out of burlap sacks is the challenge that she wakes up to every morning.

Recently, Sylvia Calvo returned to Eco Fashion Week Australia with her second collection which truly impressed. She took as inspiration the arts and culture of her hometown of Barcelona which hugs the coastline of the majestic Mediterranean Sea.

This stylish Spaniard’s fashionable collection, which included pieces for both men and women, used not only reclaimed coffee bean bags but also organic cotton and hemp. This mix of fabrics, used to construct wearable separates, gave us a more diversified collection and broadened the appeal of Calvo’s unique brand.

Any good fashion designer needs to evolve over time and I was pleasantly surprised with the addition of impressive hand painting and embroidery on her fabrics. This experimentation with new techniques is what makes Calvo stand out as an eco-designer.

Although they are made out of waste fabrics, there’s nothing throwaway about Calvo’s clothes. One outfit that impressed on the runaway was an emerald green skirt with a blouse covered in alpaca and natural gems applied on coffee bag burlap. Calvo also showcased a men’s tailored jacket with hand crafted wooden buttons that would not have looked out of place on the streets of Barcelona.

She presented t-shirts and light outerwear and, new for 2019, is a line of bags, offering an entry level eco-fashion item for those just dipping their toes into greening their closets and thus widening her brand’s appeal.

Sylvia Calvo’s motto is “waste to value” and it can’t be denied that her designs impact our environment only minimally while offering wearable and stylish clothing for today’s eco conscious men and women.

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The runway show consists of sustainable fashions from first- and second-year students made a marked as this young talent created eco-friendly designs can be fun and personable.

Not surprising as Curtin University is global campus with almost one-third of its student body consist of international students. Offering up a multi-cultural and inclusive environment to develop young minds.

Here are some of the looks from Curtin University sustainable fashion student show.

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Demonstrating that Edith Cowan University program is very much a part of the fashion scene here in Western Australia.

To make it in the fashion world today, it requires talent, lots of hard work and integrity.

The fashion industry is a multidimensional business that requires strong relationships with fashion week organizers, stylist, publicist manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and their clientele.

Often, we see fashion designers self-destruct because of their unethical business practices within the industry.

Perhaps one of theses students will be the new face of Australia’s eco-fashion future.

Here are a few of the looks from the ECU student capsule show.

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Unique to the brand is that Jude Taylor does not follow industry color trends, she is driven by her instinct resulting in distinctive eye-catching colors which are not commonly found in stores. 

As a fashion designer, one of her principals is to create trans-seasonal garments that are outside of the fast fashion cycle. Thus, she only produces high quality and classic designs that will accompany the owner for years, ensuring value and sustainability for our world.

Jude Taylor resort collection includes high-quality natural fibers such as silk, linen, bamboo and cotton. Her EFWA runway show was a tribute to the beauty of Western Australia’s wildflowers and landscape.

The following are the additional fashion designers from last evening at EFWA.

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Held at the Fremantle Community Bank Oval, seven local plus one international designer presented along with student capsule collections from ECU University which will be previewed in a future story.

Opening the evening was Perth based Skylark the Label who impressed the crowd with stylish casual to sophisticated evening looks.

Ngali presented unique pattern dresses created by indigenous artists and artisans followed by Classic Couture Vintage & Bridal that captured the hearts of the audience with breathtaking gowns.

The Shire Seamstress presented bridal looks for formal to casual weddings and special occasions.

Handmade eco-conscious clothing by Gemini Kite was best described by EFWA master of ceremonies Angela Ayers, “their collection would make any women a princess of the outback.”

Curtin Springs runway show of jewelry and clothing collections with 30 models thrilled everyone while Sylvia Calvo of Barcelona rocked the night with a stylist men’s and women’s collection made of organic fabrics and recycled coffee bean bags.

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The evening started with rich aboriginal print dresses which were bright and colourful. Followed by recycled jewel tone accessories, European street style, plus a couple of protest signs to exquisite luxury glamour.

Here is a look of Eco Fashion Week Australia runway collection from last evening.

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