By Stephanie Deline
Swan Valley, Western Australia
Fabric by Ku’Arlu Mangga (Good Nest)
Designer and Photographer: Zuhâl Kuvan-Mills.
Model: Talisha Lee-Karithyuru
After an immensely successful two runs in 2017 and 2018, offering up the best in sustainable fashion on runways in Western Australia and Queensland, Eco Fashion Week Australia is once again poised to merge the realms of fashion, art and activism with its much anticipated third run in 2024.
Following EFWA’s epic 2018 season, founder and artist/wearable art designer Zuhal Kuvan-Mills immediately began plotting for round three. The event was slated for 2020 and later 2022, but the pandemic thwarted that plan. The delay, it turns out, will be well worth the wait, as it has given Kuvan-Mills the chance to fine-tune and perfect what promises to be an even more iconic third run. Those are some big shoes to fill, given that the first two Eco Fashion Week Australia instalments cemented the event as the largest Eco Fashion Week in the world, measured by its length, the number of designers and events. The third Eco Fashion Week Australia, which is set to run all November 2024-, has so much more in store for designers and attendees alike.
Busselton Jetty, Western Australia
Designer and Photographer: Zuhâl Kuvan-Mills
Model: Lauren Di Meglio
Designers will have the opportunity to showcase small, intimate collections of no more than 12 pieces, to be showcased at an art gallery in Perth WA . EFWA3 will also incorporate workshops, runways, artist talks and seminars. And as always, the application process is meticulous, with Kuvan-Mills hand-selecting the artists based on a criteria of sustainability. The event, titled ‘Closet of the Anthropocene’, will be centered around climate change themes, giving the artists a chance to express their interpretation of the urgent climate crisis through slow fashion. And unlike the typical runway shows that dazzle for one night only, EFWA 3 exhibits will last for one month, giving both the artists and local businesses the opportunity to shine.
Kuvan-Mills is a renowned multi-media artist, and the designer behind Green Embassy, an haute couture fashion house offering several limited series of stunning wearable art works, made by hand with sustainable materials such as berries, alpaca wool, leaves, and vegan silk, and using a sustainable, grass roots process. Kuvan-Mills has shown her groundbreaking eco haute couture on a vast array of stages from Vancouver to Paris to New Zealand, to name a mere few. Exhausted by traveling and craving a more sustainability-focused venue for her work, Zuhal decided to create opportunity for herself and other eco-conscious designers by founding Eco Fashion Week Australia, and the rest is history.
EFWA blogger Stephanie Deline caught up with Kuvan-Mills to garner exclusive details about the exciting and game-changing event that seamlessly blends fashion, environmental activism, community, and art.
Swan Valley
Designer and Photographer: Zuhâl Kuvan-Mills
Model: Talisha Lee-Karithuru
SD: Tell me what inspired you to launch Eco Fashion Week Australia.
ZKM: Traditional runway shows do not embody sustainability and environmental concerns. With Green Embassy, I was trying to show the world that it was about time we started to focus on sustainable fashion rather than fast fashion. I started evaluating what I was doing, and began to wonder why we didn't have an eco-focused fashion event in Australia. This led me to begin building Eco Fashion Week Australia.
SD: How will this EFWA differ from the previous one?
ZKM: This EFWA is going to be much more interactive and inclusive. We will ask the local community , students to participate in a sculpture project. Children will have the opportunity to create sculptures using discarded textile scraps Through this, they will explore diversity and sustainability. It’s very important to us to involve all aspects of community because we believe that community and sustainability go hand in hand. There will be artist talks to shine more of a spotlight on the artists, and we are hoping to have a scientist speak as well. This will be a celebration of art, fashion and sustainability.
SD: What is your criteria for accepting a designer?
ZKM: Concept delivery in their work and Material selection is number one. Recycled, upcycled, biodegradable, earth-friendly materials. Each designer must have at least one of these aspects in their work in order to receive an invitation to work with us. We also look for creativity and innovation. That’s very important to us.
SD: Sustainability can have so many levels and layers. How do you define it, especially within the context of fashion?
ZKM: To put it simply, it means to not harm the planet. To create without leaving a carbon footprint. This can be done in so many ways. Through fashion, through supporting local business, through artistic statements, through using earth friendly materials and practices. These are the aspects of sustainability that EFWA is proud to highlight.
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