Think ‘fashion week’ and your mind may immediately start to draw the following picture; stick thin and racially non-diverse models, prohibitively expensive couture and an experience only for the very elite.
These negatives are anathema to Alternative Fashion Week, which takes over the very nerve centre of London’s art district, Spitalfields Market, for one week over Easter, most years.
Attracting 10,000 visitors to see 15 shows a day, Alternative Fashion Week is a hub of creativity and diversity, which will be sorely missed this year as the event takes a break.
The models used for Alternative Fashion Week are mainly sourced from a dedicated 6-week course that runs prior to the event. “It’s free, so it’s really accessible and takes place once a week with a really top choreographer. We get a very diverse group of enthusiastic models, all shapes, sizes, races and sexes”, say organisers.
Alternative Fashion Week is taking a break in 2011, but will be back in 2012, more eccentric and wonderfully diverse than ever.
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Post by Erin Cardiff
Erin is a second year journalism student at the University of Sheffield. She is currently applying for masters courses in New York to study magazine journalism. Erin has two blogs, Frocking Hell and Erin Actually . You can find her on Twitter @erincardiff.
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Images courtesy of: Richard Thompson, Rishi Mullett-Sadones, Oleg Katchinski
Editor Charlotte Gush, on Twitter @CavaCharlotte