Ravensbourne Runner Up: 1723 Fashions a Seasonally Flexible Denim Line
The submissions in this year’s Ravensbourne University Denim Innovation Project were the most consistently high-quality work seen thus far in the initiative’s eight-year history.
1723 was the “brand” who came in at a close second in the competition. The group consisted of Fashion Design students Angela Lin Chen, Malak Musawi and Francesca Fennell, Fashion Promotion students Alice Holland and Liv McDowell, and Fashion Buying & Brand Management students Dolly Troy and Summer Payne.
All the judges agreed that the brand concept was outstanding; it was innovative and practical at the same time. All the garment styles were interchangeable and adaptable, and could be personalized depending on the season. The trousers could transform into a skirt or shorts, while the trench coat could be transformed into a corset, a cropped jacket and skirt. However, their “A Change in Seasons” concept meant that customers would be free to adopt their own rules with garments flexible enough to change into whatever the wearer desired.
The vision for the brand was to become a sustainable and art-focused brand with meaningful and long-lasting collections inspired by genres of music. In fact, the name 1723 is derived from the date that Antonio Vivaldi finished composing his best-known work, “The Four Seasons,” which was so radical for its time and has subsequently become the world’s most popular and recognized pieces of Baroque music.
“In the future, we want to have made a positive impact on the slow fashion industry with a reputation that inspires change as well as offering innovative garments that are designed to inspire. We want to give our customers a personal experience and products that have been created responsibly. Our aim is for them to be intrigued by how each collection has a narrative and each release brings a new product that can be interchangeable for all seasons. It is key customers know our products have been created with care and through a sustainable and ethical process. We want to educate them to encourage them to become a part of our brand that promotes slow and meaningful fashion. We have a desire to provide long lasting and high-quality garments that are innovatively created from start to finish.”
– 1723
Two indigo fabric bases were supplied by partner mill Cone Denim: “Freshman,” a blend of cotton, organic cotton, hemp and recycled post-consumer cotton, and “Tulsi,” a blend of cotton, recycled post-industrial cotton and TENCELTM Lyocell. Trims were supplied by YKK and Coats Threads.
1723’s choice of industrial partners was key in reflecting the sustainable ethos of the brand, as well as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. All partners are seen as leaders in their own fields related to responsible processing and manufacturing.
Invention and insight were present in all aspects of a very detailed presentation of the project. As an example of this, 1723’s idea for a promotional campaign used the idea of ‘Paper Dolls.” Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper or thin card, with separate clothes, also made of paper, that are usually held onto the dolls by paper folding tabs. Paper dolls have been inexpensive children’s toys for almost 200 years. Today, many artists are turning paper dolls into an art form.
Read more about the Ravensbourne University Denim Innovation Project here.