ARCH College Jaipur's Colloquia Talks About Responsible Fashion

Responsible fashion is the need of the hour, but to make sure that this is embraced wholly by the industry it is important to bring this conversation at institutes offering design education which are preparing the designers for tomorrow. Keeping that in mind ARCH College of Design & Business Jaipur hosted an International Research Colloquium FASHION COLLOQUIA 2020. The topic was “Heritage… Stories of Change… Our Shared Future" with a two-day pre-colloquium association with the Jaipur Literature Festival. It formally launched the Third series of Fashion Colloquia recognizing the importance of a ‘Responsible’ future and celebrated the 150th Year of “Father of the Nation” Mahatma Gandhi and his contribution towards the growth of Khadi. SheThePeople.TV were the digital media partners for this event.

On the need for such an event Archana Surana Founder & Director of ARCH College of Design & Business said, “As an institution offering Design Education, it is important that the young people get engaging learning environments that invoke and provoke, explore and experience, discover and create, and assess and improve their lives. Education in fashion and design provide opportunities to open societal doors and to explore new ways of interdisciplinary learning in continuous interaction with society and the industry. Responsible Fashion can make the world a better place by reusing and upcycling waste as a symbol of ‘hope’ and contribute to a more sustainable world by valuing more the local economy and the role of fashion designers from the local community.”

The event

The keynote speakers were Sanjay Garg Founder, Raw Mango and Fashion Designer, Activist, Entrepreneur, and Founder & Creative Director of Upasana Uma Prajapati. A wide range of speakers spoke about the various aspects of the industry. There were workshops on garment pattern technique and dyeing techniques, research paper presentations and stories of transformation. Further stalwarts from the industry and academia spoke about disruption and innovation in fashion. Uma Prajapati told the audience to, “Find the new translation, make your clothes conscious that's it. We all wear clothes just stay in that there, you would be a changemaker for yourself and just be that.”

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On the last day of the Colloquia delegates and participants went on field trips where they worked with artisans who worked at the grassroot level and learned the traditional textile techniques.

Designer Pratima Pandey said, “A designer needs to be sensitizing to think that "I'm a designer I have to be responsible, you cannot just design, there has to be sought of value system attached to it."

Responsible Fashion can make the world a better place by reusing and upcycling waste as a symbol of ‘hope’ and contribute to a more sustainable world by valuing more the local economy and the role of fashion designers from the local community.

Continuing its endeavour

Beyond this year’s event, the Fashion Colloquia in Jaipur will bring forward themes with particular relevance to the specific locations. It will allow varied different sets of contributions to be added and explored, within a responsible and interdisciplinary frame and context to invest in a shared and sustainable future for fashion.

Aim Of the Colloquia

The Colloquia aimed at attracting a rich variety of contributions from a broad selection of people from academia, media and practice – and utilize contributions for uploading to an established international repository for fashion. Archana shares that the “Fashion Colloquia 2020, was hosted with an aim to attract a rich variety of contributions from a broad selection of people from academia, media and practice –towards recognizing the importance of a ‘Responsible’ future and utilize contributions for uploading to an established international repository for fashion."

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How Fashion Colloquia Started

The Fashion Colloquia series originated through a core network of 4 institutions, connected by their residence and involvement in the four big 'Fashion weeks' across the globe. These Institutions were the London College of Fashion - University of the Arts, London, Domus Academy - Milan, Institute Francais de la Mode - Paris and Parsons, The New School for Design, School of Fashion, New York.