From February 26 to March 26, 2024, Raúl Egloff Alcaide, a Fashion Design lecturer, led an innovative workshop on upcycling with first-year Bachelor's degree students.
The project was based on the use of raw materials recovered from the Vestiaire Social, a centre in Geneva run by the Red Cross, Caritas and the CSP. This association provides clothing, shoes and household linen free of charge to people in precarious situations. The textiles available to the students, deemed too worn or damaged to be distributed, were initially destined for waste collection. Our 27 young designers worked with heart and creativity to transform and give new life to these materials, creating unique and innovative pieces. Some of their creations will be presented in New York during Climate Week in September, highlighting the need for change in the fashion industry and revealing the infinite possibilities and creative potential of upcycling.

A workshop focusing on three educational axes, to develop professional, methodological and social skills.

• Conceptual axis: exploring personal culture
  The first axis focuses on exploring one's own culture and cultural origins. This personal research includes various fields such as art, design, music, film, photography, personal rituals, and so on. By critically examining their culture, students study cultural appropriation in the context of fashion. The challenge is to analyze and reference sources correctly to draw inspiration without falling into cultural appropriation.
• Methodology axis: developing new creative methods
  The second focus is on developing new creative methods through experimentation in fashion design. Participants are invited to create new shapes, volumes and silhouettes. The exercise consists of using clothes as raw material to develop the structure and volumes of the silhouette in 3D, then transcribing these experiments into 2D (drawing and collage) to create variations of looks. After analysis and discussion in class, the most relevant proposal is produced.
• Realization axis : creation through upcycling
  The third part of the project focuses on upcycling, resulting in the creation of a fabric, two final pieces of clothing, and merchandising products that will be presented at the exhibition in New York. The fabrics are made using various techniques for modifying, manipulating and transforming the raw material: weaving, knitting, embroidery, printing, lasercut, textile decorations and patchwork, among others.

An introspective and collective workshop
This workshop is above all an introspective exercise on two scales.  The first scale, personal, aims to create its own universe with referenced sources, while tackling the notion of cultural appropriation. The team was honoured to welcome researcher and designer Camille Buehler, who introduced this theme.  
The second scale, collective, encourages awareness of the issues surrounding production and consumption in the textile industry. Recycling issues were discussed in a dedicated session with designer and author Dinie van den Heuvel (Sew What?, 2023). She addressed the environmental issues directly caused by the fashion industry and discussed collective solutions for a healthy and sustainable future.


Assistant:
Brigitte da Conceição

Teaching staff:
Dinnie van den Heuvel
Camille Buehler
Tineke van der Meer

Students : 
AESCHLIMANN Luna 
ANEX ROSAS LANDA Céline 
BONELLI Chiara 
BOUAMOUD Sarah 
BOUBEKEUR Zakarie 
CEDOLIN Loris 
CHEVALLEY Joel 
CHOI Heeju 
CRASTES DE PAULET Raphaelle 
DANI Vanessa 
FERRARI Pablo 
HERODY Hector 
HOFER Lola 
JACQUET Coline 
JEANDAT Arthur 
KÖPPEL Ivy 
KRIER Zita 
LEPELTIER Louise 
LUCARELLI Marco 
NKEUNA Andy 
PANABIERE Antoine 
PAPOTTO GURY Maxime 
ROSAZZA-CELIN Elalilou 
ROSSE Mahée 
TRESALLET Kelig 
VAN DER LINDEN Sacha 
VOLTA Tommaso