Bethany Williams – London Fashion Week
Sustainable fashion designer and artist Bethany Williams presented her latest collection, All Our Stories, last Saturday as part of London Fashion Week.
A very joyous and colourful collection, All Our Stories is inspired by the designer’s work with The Magpie Project, an East London charity supporting homeless or at risk of homelessness women and children.
Artist Melissa Kitty Jarram ran storytelling workshops with the families currently supported by the organisation and illustrated the narratives they shared, using waste book covers to tell a new story.
The collection focuses on five main storylines shared by the families of the Magpie Project: “AOS”, “Blessing”, “Dinosaurs”, “The Girl Who Cried Tiger” and “The Sun and The Wind”, Bethany’s own childhood story.
The silhouettes are inspired by the V&A Museum of Childhood’s garment archive, including her first exploration into tailoring with a suit inspired by a historical childrens skeleton suit from the 1800’s. The new shapes stand alongside her existing forms, and the collection also features two corsets created with Welsh designer Rosie Evans using cutoffs from the collection production. Traditional boning in the corset was replaced with a material made out of fruit packaging waste.
The designer has a very humanitarian and conscious approach to fashion, working with charities and social/sustainable suppliers such as manufacturing partner Making Change or social cooperative Mending for Good, and re-using waste sample swatches, cut offs etc.
As always, 20% of the profits will be donated to the Magpie Project via The Bethany Williams Benevolent Fund. To donate visit https://justgiving.com/magpieproject.
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