VIDEOBOOK FASHION FOR TOMORROW
CHAPTER ONE | SUSTAINABLE CONCEPTS
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter: We welcome all those who are interested in how to better value themselves through knowledge and style! Well we found ourselves at Fashion for Tomorrow, a video book with fresh ideas for dynamic and creative people eager to get information from qualified sources. In today’s episode we will make an applied dialogue about the methods of developing the concept of fashion sustainability by involving a consortium of partners from two continents. Now we are going to find out what is the involvement of the city of Iasi in this international context offered by Kasta Morrely with the help of the Creative Europe program. I am pleased to be again with Mrs. Ana Hriscu, the first doctor in the world in the ethics of fashion theater, to find out more details.
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter: What can you tell us, in your advised capacity as international coordinator, about the year 2021, in the context of the project “Fashion Sustainability in the spotlight, New Trends of intercultural learning”.
Ana Hriscu, PhD: The year 2021 was declared the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development at the 74th General Assembly of the United Nations. The focus on the creative industries is of obvious importance, in the context of efforts for sustainable development, sustainability and post-COVID planning for economic and social recovery.
Creative Europe is the European Union’s most important funding program dedicated to supporting the creative, cultural and audiovisual fields. The Creative Europe program is managed by the European Commission and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in Brussels. European cooperation projects support strengthening the capacity of the cultural and creative sectors to operate in a competitive way at international level, while promoting transnational movement and mobility.
In this global and European context, the Kasta Morrely Association coordinates from Iași, as you mentioned, the international project “Fashion Sustainability in the spotlight, New Trends of intercultural learning”. The project is co-financed by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.
As a project coordinator, I was pleased to see that the European Commission’s expert evaluators appreciated our approach as innovative and relevant to the Priorities of the Creative Europe Program – the Culture Sub-Program.
Some of the strengths that made the sustainability part of our project considered representative are: organizing the Kasta Morrely Fashion Week in Romania and personalized fashion festivals in Portugal and Tunisia, developing human resources and creating specialized materials for intercultural learning about the sustainability of fashion.
A relevant dividing factor is the contribution of Kasta Morrely to the development of the creative industries sector, by conceiving the new artistic genre Fashion Theater®.
The partnership was also considered extremely relevant, as all partners are active actors with expertise in international projects related to the topics of fashion sustainability and intercultural learning.
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter: What added value did each partner bring to the project dedicated to fashion sustainability?
Ana Hriscu, PhD: The University of Sfax is rated as the best university in Tunisia and among the top 500 universities worldwide. The university will be involved in the project through the Higher Institute of Arts and Crafts in Sfax, especially the design department of this institute has a special role in Tunisia, as it supports the key export sectors of the economy, textiles and clothing. The university professors, whom we are pleased to have joined Kasta Morrely in our project, address a wide range of advanced studies in support of sustainable fashion, from policies and measures to be implemented in the textile industry to design and fashion design.
The Intercultural for All in Barcelos, Portugal, promotes intercultural cooperation between specialists through various dynamic programs covering topics such as human rights, equal opportunities, reducing unemployment, cultural diversity and the creative economy. The trainers of the organization who will be with Kasta Morrely in our project have over 20 years of experience in extensive intercultural learning programs to support the development of creative entrepreneurship, the promotion of European culture and traditions.
Kasta Morrely, as a project leader and international cultural organization of human rights defense, coordinated entirely by multi-skilled specialists, actively advocates for the importance of performance in the sustainable development of democratic society, by promoting skills and qualifications in all areas of society. Kasta Morrely has a portfolio of 19 years of successful work in promoting the values of the creative industries, being rated as an example of good practice at European level for its cultural and leadership training projects under the European Commission’s priority programs. Kasta Morrely is also part of the group of European experts contributing to the development of the future action plan on the cultural dimension of sustainable development.
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter: What are the main activities of the project?
Ana Hriscu, PhD: Among the main activities I mention training courses held in Iasi, Portugal and Tunisia, which are aiming young people at the beginning of their careers in specific fields of creative industries. Among the areas approached by expert trainers from Kasta Morrely, Sfax University and Intercultural for All, stand out: sustainable fashion, clothing design, creative entrepreneurship, Fashion Theater®, organizing fashion events and image promotion strategies. There will be a series of job shadowings in the creative activities of Kasta Morrely, Sfax University and the Intercultural for All, for young people at the beginning of their careers in the creative industries sector.
The project supports collaboration between teams of designers and fashion houses from Romania, Tunisia and Portugal to create a series of intercultural clothing collections that respect the principles of sustainable fashion, promoting traditional motifs of our country and partner countries. The collections will be presented through specific choreographies by Fashion Theatre® at the international festival Kasta Morrely Fashion Week which is complemented by fashion events organized in Barcelos, Portugal and Sfax, Tunisia.
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter: In the winter I watched a digital edition of Kasta Morrely Fashion Week which was noticed in the professional international media, which enjoys hundreds of millions of readers thanks to the accuracy constantly proven in the published information.
Ana Hriscu, PhD: The biannual Kasta Morrely Fashion Week festival promotes the elaborate national and international competitiveness of designers, brands and schools in the field of fashion, clothing design and textile engineering, as well as workers and companies successful models in related fields of creative industries open to top events promoting current civilization. During the previous 10 editions, on the international catwalk Kasta Morrely Fashion Week in Iași, over 100 designers and fashion houses from Romania, Europe, Asia and America launched their collections.
Each edition of Kasta Morrely Fashion Week managed to keep the character of originality and novelty on the catwalk, through the qualified expertise of the organizers, the Fashion Theater® and a rigorous selection of participating designers and fashion houses. In the previous 10 editions, thanks to Kasta Morrely’s recognized expertise in the field of fashion, we were happy to offer in Iasi the launches of the collections of famous designers from the Royal House of the Netherlands, the Royal House of the Philippines, Bollywood from the classic circuit of the big fashion festivals Milan – Paris – London – New York, also fashion houses of notoriety from Romania, Asia, America and many European countries.
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter: Therefore, the international approach Kasta Morrely brings in the spotlight both the concept of Fashion Sustainability and the city of Iasi.
Ana Hriscu, PhD: Through this project that includes two continents, the city of Iasi becomes for 2 years an international focal point of attractiveness through civilization and a reference in the sector of fashion sustainability and creative economy.
Iași benefits from European funds attracted by Kasta Morrely whose economic beneficiaries are implicitly companies and firms from our municipality and county and from opportunities for professional development of young people and entrepreneurs from Iași in the field of fashion and creative industries.
The Kasta Morrely Fashion Week international festival, the International Gala of Creative Industries Awards, as well as the specialized activities of the project carried out in Iasi and countries on two continents, are factors that contribute concretely to the affirmation of our city and sustainable development.
Through the project activities, Iași benefits from visibility and promotion as a dynamic city and county of creative industries, creative entrepreneurship and professional fashion through complex complementary activities carried out locally and internationally and through inter-institutional collaboration with universities, organizations, companies and institutions which contributes to the sustainability of fashion and the development of creative industries.
Fashion for Tomorrow Reporter:: This was the second episode of FASHION FOR TOMORROW, a VideoBook with fresh ideas for dynamic and creative people, eager to get information from qualified and demonstrably knowledgeable sources. Thank you for your attention and I am pleased to invite you to participate in the creative activities of this international initiative in Premiere, to enjoy writing together the chapters of the Fashion for Tomorrow story!
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