2023
1000 Coats (2017-2023)
An original idea from artist Whitney McVeigh, exploring how fashion and making can build communities and inspire social change.
Drawing: Inside Out
A collaboration between The Line and London College of Fashion, bringing together students and women from east London communities for drawing workshops, inspired by visionary artist Madge Gill.
2022
Through Our Eyes
During a week of workshops, Ellen Rock and LCF's, Making for Change invited local children to create a block-printed, immersive mural symbolising their memories of the Aberfeldy Estate, an area in east London that has undergone significant redevelopment.
Mini Royal Realness
BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear students designed and made a collection of children’s royal-themed costumes for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Community Festival in Millennium Green in June 2022.
2020
Collaborative Challenge: Circle Collective
LCF have worked with Circle Collective, a social enterprise based in Hackney and Lewisham which supports local unemployed young people, on a range of collaborations. MA students were invited to develop new garments for the Circle Collective streetwear range as part of LCF's Collaborative Challenge.
2018
Procession Banners
Led by artist Lucy Orta, Procession Banners engaged inmates at HMP Downview women’s prison and LCF students in the collaborative production of banner artworks. Commemorating 100 years of votes for women in the UK, the work connected participants with the legacy of Holloway prison in the women’s suffrage campaign, through craft and textile practice.
Collaborative Challenge: Stitches in Time
Stitches in Time is a community project in Limehouse who work with socially marginalised women, introducing them to sewing skills as a way to improve their confidence in English language. MA students produced digital and marketing content to improve the charities online presence.
Collaborative Challenge: Glow
Glow is an ethical brand created by London College of Fashion aluma Comet Chukura that produces high-vis knitted cycle wear (scarves, hats, snoods) hand-knitted by women in the community. MA students worked on a marketing plan to increase the brand's visibility and increase sales.
Raw Materials: Textiles
A community-led exhibition series curated by Bow Arts which aims to uncover and make accessible the industrial heritage of the River Lea Valley in East London. Students collaborated on community textile workshops as part of the exhibition’s public engagement programme.
2017
Conscious Contemporary Tailoring
Supported by the Zegna Foundation, Conscious Contemporary Tailoring brought communities together: the women of the weaving department at San Patrignano rehabilitation community in Italy, the women of Making for Change and London College of Fashion BA Menswear students.
2016
Cabinet Stories
A travelling exhibition for audiences who have limited access to the arts. In 2016, Cabinet Stories toured to partners in London who work with communities who may be at a point in their life where they are not able to visit museums. Cabinet Stories travelled to HMP Holloway, East London NHS Foundation Trust and Anchor Silk Court – a home for older people.
Design+Make
The charity Art Against Knives (AAK) work with young people living in areas of London affected by violent crime, supporting them to gain opportunities to access education, employment and training. Design+Make, a collaborative project between LCF and AAK, gave young adults the opportunity to take part in a two-week programme led by LCF industry professionals and student mentors.
Circle Collective
A collaboration between Circle Collective and LCF students. The project provided a unique space to explore how we express creative talent and how social enterprise can be used as a vehicle to explore the design, retail and marketing environment as a platform to promote community values and ambitions.
The Beauty's Inside (2012-2016)
An award-winning collaboration between LCF and HMP Send. The Beauty's Inside is created by both LCF students and female prison inmates, who work together to produce content inspired by, and relevant for, the women prisoner readership. The project aims to inspire and support rehabilitation for female offenders.
2015
Bag Ladies
Students from BA (Hons) Fashion Bags and Accessories and BA (Hons) Fashion Public Relations and Communication, worked with Coram BAAF (formerly BAAF British Association for Adoption and Fostering on their annual Bag Ladies fundraising event. Students designed and produced bags that were donated for the auction, and promoted the event to the fashion press and across social media.
Whitefield Academy Trust (now Flourish Learning Trust)
Students from MA Fashion Futures spent time at this specialist centre for children with multi-sensory impairment, seeking to understand the challenges and opportunities for working with the senses to enable and inform future design practices.
2014
Create London at RAMs Place Market
A temporary pop-up fashion and art hub, curated by The Barbican and Create London, in Hackney. LCF students took part in workshops using their technical skills and knowledge to assist and inspire a group of young Hackney residents who had signed up for the event.
The project coincided with the ‘street meets couture’ emphasis of the Barbican exhibition, The Fashion Worlds of Jean-Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk.
Ten Stores Challenge
Organised by charity, Hope and Homes for Children, the event saw students from ten courses sell products and experiences at a pop-up shop in the College. Students experienced a unique opportunity to use their talent for a good cause, whilst learning about enterprise and selling through a live project.