Pearl Academy Mumbai Hosts First-ever Graduate Fashion Week International (GFWi) in India
Pearl Academy in partnership with Graduate Fashion Week International (GFWi) and FDCI came together to give the next generation of designers a stage to showcase their work at the FDCIXLakme Fashion Week. This first-of-its-kind international showcase included students from over 27 fashion design schools, including students and alumni from Pearl Academy.
Alumni and students from various campuses of Pearl Academy showcased their innovative designs at the event. The themes included genderless garments, an avant-garde take on Indian drapes, duality of Indian Aesthetics from different regions, and reinventing the traditional craft technique, ‘Kantha’ with unconventional materials such as plastic.
Aditi Srivastava, President, Pearl Academy said, “We at Pearl Academy are proud to partner with GFWi for their entry to India and showcase their collection at FDCIXLFW. This is in line with Pearl’s commitment to grow and expand its worldwide reputation as the largest and most comprehensive platform for fashion talent in the world. Creative students are not only constantly looking for inspiration but are also ready to take on new challenges and push beyond conventions. And what better collaboration than GFWi, which represents and embodies the same.”
Adrien Roberts, Graduate Fashion Foundation International Trustee and International Director of Education at Accademia Costume and Moda said, “For over 30 years Graduate Fashion Week has been the world’s biggest exhibition of undergraduate fashion talent, elevating some of the most exciting creative talents of tomorrow and our International Catwalk Showcase has been an intrinsic part of that event for the past 10 years. For the graduates of today, fashion is a global community with inspiration and talent emerging from institutes across the world and as a global community we can’t continue to remain only in London, the time has come to decentralize fashion, and further our inclusivity.”
Alka Madan, Regional Director West, Pearl Academy Mumbai shared, “For over 30 years, Graduate Fashion Week has been the world’s biggest exhibition of undergraduate fashion talent, elevating some of the most exciting creative talents of tomorrow. As a prelude to the event (Oct 13 – 15), Pearl Academy and GFWi conducted several engaging knowledge sharing sessions surrounding three key themes in fashion: Sustainability, Inclusivity and Trends.”
The first ever global Graduate Fashion Week International featured live panel discussions around culture and style, sustainable approaches for the apparel and fashion industry and the future of fashion education; led by fashion industry veterans such as Nandita Shah, Jitender Sandhu, Manish Misra, Aliya Curmally and Shruti Singh, alongside webinars from industry leaders including Zalando, Net-a-Porter and Fashion Academics Creating Equality (FACE).
Speaking about the showcase, Antonio Maurizio Grioli, Dean, School of Fashion and Design, Pearl Academy says, “With Pearl hosting GFWi this year and showcasing some of its best work alongside 27 other globally renowned Fashion Schools at FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week, we are looking forward to breaking some barriers with our work and having important conversations. This will set the course for the Fashion Industry globally.”
Sunil Sethi, Chairman, FDCI led a panel on Sustainable Approaches for the Apparel and Fashion Industry and the Implications for Education that touched on Pearl Academy’s projects with other universities and how they champion indigenous sustainability practices. The panelists touched upon how the fashion industry can use more sustainable practices during the ideation and manufacturing process and ways by which the fashion industry can reduce its carbon footprint.
Through GFWi, Pearl Academy and FDCI aim is to elevate budding talent from across the country and further important conversations on the future of fashion education and the industry.