The award, now in its third edition, was set up by Connecting Cultures and C.L.A.S.S. with the aim of creating new visual imagery and innovative communication models in sustainable fashion “Grow Your Couture” by PieroD’angelo, the winning project of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLEFASHION(ISFA)
competition was announced during a webinar broadcast on 18 May at 4pm attended by Giusy Bettoni CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub, Anna Detheridge President of Connecting Cultures and ISFA ambassadors Valentina Suarez, co-founder and CEO of Universo Mola and Vishal Tolambia winner of the 2022 edition.
Piero D’angelo’s project was the best among the 110 proposals received after the international call for proposals launched on 27October 2022. PieroD’Angelo, 36, a graduate in Fashion Womenswear from the Royal College of Art in London and in Textile Design from Central Saint Martins, is a Fashion and Textile Designer with a research focus on biotechnology in the fashion industry. In 2022 he founded his Fashion & Textile Design studio experimenting with a multidisciplinary approach on the importance of natural materials and Bio design. From 2018 to 2022 Piero D’Angelo was a resident and then Product Researcher & Developer at Open Cell (Biotech Research Park), a biotech start-up community in London. He was awarded the Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize in 2015 and
semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize in 2020.
In his communication project, ‘Grow Your Own Couture’ D’Angelo imagines a future scenario where it will be possible to grow one’s own clothes through living organisms such as lichens that are able to absorb pollution.
But the project also wants to communicate a return to nature and above all care and protection towards it. In fact, the user is not simply a user of fashion, but through a kit is part of the process of growth, care and creation of the garment, thus abandoning the traditional paradigms of fashion. The project wants to completely reimagine the way fashion could be designed, produced and used, proposing not only a product, but also a system that wants to collaborate with nature instead of polluting or exploiting it.
“I think that a true sustainable revolution can only and exclusively take place when an end product is also accompanied by a system. Amore democratic system that prioritises the care and protection of both natural and human resources rather than an economic interest”, stated the winner Piero d’Angelo.
“Through “Grow Your Own Couture” I want to intrigue and make people think, questioning our current
knowledge of fashion. An invitation to explore little-known terrain such as the use of Bio design and its line of thoughtin the field of fashion, and to raise awareness of a different approach so as to open doorsto scenarios that were previously unimaginable”.
Livia Caliopi Biro and Sara Consalvowon the special social contest open to the public and held among8finalists selected by the jury. Their project’ This is not abstract’ was the most voted by Instagram followers on C.L.A.S.S. profile.
“The 2023 edition of Imagining Sustainable Fashion showeda definite leap forward in the levelofresearch and the ability of young professionals and students to think outside the box. We were pleased to see that many entries showed more courage to create innovative ethical and aesthetic solutions outside the fashion mainstream.” Anna Detheridge stated.
“Truly an interesting edition, the participants are fully grasping this challenge of ‘sustainable communication’, a theme that as we know has begun to be prioritised even by international directives. The engaging proposal of our winner, puts people and nature atthe centre of creation while recalling the great research work around the theme of bio fabricate where biotechnology is writing a new chapter of responsible innovation”, commented Giusy Bettoni
Piero D’angelo ranked first among the finalists selected by the international jury composed of:
• Anna Detheridge, Founder and President, Connecting Cultures
• Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder, C.L.A.S.S.
• Rita Airaghi, Director of Gianfranco Ferré Research Centre
• Paola Arosio, Head of New Brands & Sustainability Projects, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana
• Jeanine Ballone, Managing Director, Fashion 4 Development
• Evie Evangelou, Founder and President, Fashion 4 Development
• Sara Kozlowski, Director of Education and Sustainable Strategies, Council of Fashion Designers of
America
• Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts
• RenataMolho, fashion journalist and writer, formereditor-in-chief ofL’Uomo Vogueand editor-at-large
of L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Casa Vogue
• Stefania Ricci, Director, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
• Jovana Vukoje, New Brands Senior Specialist, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.
Piero D’Angelo won the 3,000 euro prize made possible thanksto the support of the main sponsors ROICA™ by Asahi Kasei and Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei and the other project sponsors: SUPREME GREEN COTTON® by Varvaressos and ECOSENSOR™ by Asahi Kasei.
ROICA™ is a premium stretch fiber with an innovative range of smart features to meet all contemporary
wardrobe needs forsports, underwear and fashion. It has always been committed to promoting responsible innovation in the textile industry. The secondmain sponsoris Bemberg™ by AsahiKasei, an extraordinary fibre obtained from the smart-tech transformation of pre-consumer cotton linter and processed through a traceable and transparent closed-loop process.
Thanksto the ambassadors ofthe initiative: Iris Skrami, CEO and co-founderof Renoon, Valentina Suarez cofounder and CEO of the Latin American sustainable fashion movement Universo MOLA, Ren Collective and the association Humanity Centred Designs
