Pre-Summit 1.5
FACE - AGENTS OF CHANGE
Wednesday
12th July 2023
Entry 13.30. Talks 14.00 – 17.00 hrs. Networking, DJs and refreshment 17.00 till 19.00 hrs.
Hosted by
Central Saint Martins
See full timeline breakdown below.
Sign up using this QR code. Online and in person
Introduction and closing from FACE co-founder Andrew Ibi.
Building on last year’s success, join members of ‘Fashion Academics Creating Equality’ for the FACE Pre-Summit 1.5. Using our 4 pillars: Power Position Privilege Purpose we build on anti-racist dialogue and shared purpose.
Sign up link here for online and in person or see above QR code.
FACE Pre - Summit 1.5 schedule timeline.
Central Saint Martins University of The Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4CC
Room details (E002 & E003)
13.30 Meet and greet (front sign in desk)
14.00 - 14.05 Welcome Darla-Jane Gilroy, Associate Dean of Knowledge Exchange, Reader in Fashion and Enterprise
Central Saint Martins
14.05 Introduction from FACE cofounder, Andrew Ibi
14.10 – 15.20 Panel 1 - How is Education Championing New Equitable Practices? (Inc. 10 min Q&A)
Chair Davina Hawthorne leads the conversation interrogating the lack of representation of Black and Brown students and academics, in art and design education.
15.20 Comfort break announcement (10 mins)
15.30 – 16.40 Panel 2 - How can the fashion industry be reimagined through an equity and anti-oppression lens? (Inc. 10 min Q&A)
16.40 – 17.00 Andrew Ibi: closing remarks and invited audience engagement.
17.00 – 19.00 FACE DJs music and networking
Panel 1 - How is education championing new equitable practices?
Chair Davina Hawthorne leads the conversation interrogating equitable policies within art and design education with a call for action!
Speakers L-R Max Kandhola: Photographer and Principal Lecturer in photography at Nottingham Trent University, Benita Odogwu-Atkinson: Senior Lecturer, Inclusive Curriculum Consultant and activist University for the Creative Arts, Chair Davina Hawthorne: Designer, educator and activist De Montfort University. Dr Duna Sabri: Associate Director Interdisciplinary Education, Students and Education Directorate, Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Policy Research, King’s College London. Katy Dawe founder and former CEO of the pioneering charity Art Against Knives (AAK) Saima Nishat Graduate Winchester School of Art. Sharon Lloyd Co-founder of FACE, Sharon is a senior academic and Course Leader of MA Make-up and Hair Futures at Solent University. Full biogs below
Word Cloud generated by Microsoft 365, after a WhatsApp questionnaire on issues to be discussed
Panel 2 - How can the fashion industry be reimagined through an equity and anti-oppression lens?
Chair Asiya Durrani-McCann leads on progression within industry and its corporate and social responsibility to ensure sustainable futures for equality and diversity.
Speakers Top Row. L-R Nada Koreish: Designer, educator and activist: School of Art and Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University. Daniel Peters: Minority Report - brand and marketing specialist. Tre Koch, Artist turned agent supporting next generation of creatives. Chair: Asiya Durrani-McCann Founder of FIF (Fashion Industry Forum), Curator of @90 from the 90s and International Luxury Brand Director. Deborah Latouche Creative Director and founder of Luxury, Sustainably Conscious, and Modest Wear Brand SABIRAH, Anita Chhiba Founder of Diet Paratha. The burgeoning Instagram platform has quickly become the global home to the best creative talent across the South Asian diaspora. Kirsten Gair Graduate Edinburgh College of Art. Full biogs below
Word Cloud generated by Microsoft 365, after a WhatsApp questionnaire on issues to be discussed
Speaker Biographies
Panel 1.
Chair Davina Hawthorne
Davina champions sustainable practice through cultural, social, political, economic and environmental context. Her work has been featured in numerous books and magazines such as the Observer, Financial Times, You Magazine, Sublime, Ecologist,100 ideas that changed fashion, Colour in Fashion, Textile Cloth and Culture.
Completing several early years as a pattern cutter and designer for brands such as H&M and River Island and likening it to working in McDonald’s she decided to embark on a more fulfilled path. Under the watchful eye of Carole Collet she enrolled on the Central St Martins MA Design for Textile Futures. Davina’s MA research focussed on diverse and inclusive bodies while her textile designs explored the subtle changes and beauty within the surface of the skin. This resulted in ‘flat pack’ adaptable garments which could be peeled open to different body shapes and sizes. She was granted a UK patent.
In 2002 Davina received the Clerkenwell Green award to set up her own design studio in Clerkenwell, London and showcase her first upcycled womenswear collection which was selected by Orsola De Castro for Esthetica: the first ethical fashion showcase within London Fashion Week. During a 10 year stint at the Clerkenwell studios she created small collections and one off upcycled bespoke pieces for individual clients. Other freelance projects included - A wallpaper installation in collaboration with Wilson Associates at Downtown Design in Dubai and ‘Green is the new Black’ Altaroma / British Embassy group exhibition at Villa Wolonsky and at La Rinascente in Rome to name a few.
Davina is currently the MA Fashion and Textile Programme leader at De Montfort University and recently collaborated with FACE members and the Horniman Museum to create FACE X Horniman – Hair: Untold Hair Stories an online exhibition that explores personal narratives attached to hair from Black, Brown and Asian perspectives within the UK.
STUDENT SPACE: https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/face-x-horniman-student-space/
ACADEMIC SPACE: https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/face-x-horniman-academic-space/
Dr Duna Sabri
Dr Sabri is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Policy Research, King’s College London. Her research is in the sociology of higher education, pedagogy, interdisciplinary education, and institutional and national policy relating to HE. Her published work critiques the concept of ‘the student experience’ and explores HE policy discourses.
She is also Associate Director of Interdisciplinary Education at King’s, which encompasses educational development and the design and management of cross-faculty curriculum innovations. Her current interests are in the development of interdisciplinary curriculum design, learning and teaching.
Duna’s doctoral research on the assumptive worlds of policy-makers and academics arose from her experience as Educational Development Advisor at the University of Oxford. Subsequent research has focused on institutional practices and national HE policy relating to the conceptualisation of students, academics, HE managers and the interplay between them. Over the past 10 years, her research has focused on the causes of inequality in students’ outcomes in UK higher education. As well as contributing to a national review on this subject, she has completed a five-year longitudinal study at one institution, which explores the causal mechanisms that underlie statistical differences in students’ degree outcomes. This has led to her most recent article on the conceptualisation of causality in HE policy and a forthcoming article on the impact of students’ engagement with industry through placements and live projects.
She is a member of the British Sociological Association, and the Society for Research into Higher Education.
Benita Odogwu-Atkinson
Benita is a senior lecturer in fashion design & creative pattern cutting and a FACE (Fashion Academics Creating Equality) Council member. She is a Graduate Fashion Foundation Academic Trustee, a British Fashion Council College Council Member and an Inclusive Curriculum Consultant
Benita has over 30 years' experience in Fashion Education and Design, working to challenge higher education, further education and the fashion industry to be more inclusive, unified and equal. Specifically delivering decolonised teaching and learning that tells the whole story and informs cohorts on the development of fashion alongside global, societal, economic and race.
Max Kandhola
Max Kandhola is photographer and Principal Lecturer in photography at Nottingham Trent University, advocating equality, social and political responsibility through the prism of photographic visual culture. The photographic work questions the complex relationship of the human condition and the politics of representation. He has authored four books, The Aura of Boxing, Flatland: A Landscape of Punjab, Illustration of Life, and Peter Max Kandhola's Monograph. Kandhola’s work has also featured in international collaborative publications, Photography, Race Rights, and Representation (Sealy, 2022), The Figure of Christ in Contemporary Photography (Dietschy, 2020), and India Contemporary Photography and New Media Art (Gupta, Evans, 2018). Recent exhibitions, Chester Cathedral in 2021, St. Mark's Church in New York in 2020 and 2019; and FotoFest Houston, Texas, (2018.). Max is represented by Photoink in Delhi, India, and his work is held by the Government Art Collection, Deutsche Bank, the National Trust, Fox Talbot Museum of Photography, Autograph London, Lightwork New York, Walsall Art Gallery, and numerous private collections.
Max is conducting research on numerous photographic projects, including the complex ontology of the pugilist pedagogy, 'British Cultures of Boxing,' when considering British class, race, society, and whiteness. On death and dying, he reflects on his mother's passing, reviewing archival material, photography, while composing haiku-style poetry. The Ageing Male Body is an intimate self-portrait of an Indian male, a collaborative and exploratory photographic study with his son that questions masculinity and documents the fragility and complexity of the different phases of a male's ageing body.
Dr Avis Charles
Avis Charles is a fashion and educational consultant, a graduate of the London College of Fashion (UAL). She started her career as an apprentice in the couture house of Susan Small, Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies, whose clients included the British Royal Family in addition to global high-profile individuals.
This foundation has led to over forty-five years of continuous development in an ever-changing fashion environment and the formation of Avis Charles Associates (ACA), a strategic fashion consultancy specialising in creative direction through to product development. ACA has developed educational, training, and vocational programs in the African continent and the Caribbean. which led to the company formulating the strategy for Africa Fashion International (AFI)’s bi-annual fashion weeks, which is one of the largest successful fashion week and designer development events on the African continent.
Avis’s interest in traditional crafts, cultural heritage and her extensive contacts have enabled the development of projects for the IFC/World Bank, the British Council, and the International Trade Centre (ITC) along with consulting with international academic institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and global brands on sustainability. These projects have celebrated female artisanal talent in Peru, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, Ethiopia, India, to name a few, by directional mentoring enabling them to reach their full economic potential.
In 2023 De Montfort University awarded Avis was an Honorary Doctor of Arts in recognition for her decades of tireless advocacy for young people and her work supporting women in developing countries. This builds on her current role as a Honorary International Research Fellow within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities at the University.
Katy Dawe
Katy is the founder and former CEO of the pioneering charity Art Against Knives (AAK), which she established as one of London’s leading youth-led organisations renowned for its creative, community-led interventions. Her work has transformed lives, affected systems change and influenced national social justice policy.
She is currently a Brand and Business Strategist, consulting across the non-profit, creative and commercial worlds, moving them out of silos and co-ordinating their collective strengths to drive change at scale. She continues to work in partnership with young people and the creative industry to develop new ways of working, predominantly through her continued involvement with Art Against Knives and as a Non-executive Director of Milk Honey Bees, supporting young black women through creative therapeutic opportunities.
Saima Nishat
Saima is a fashion designer who is inspired by her Bengali heritage and menswear silhouettes. Graduating with a BA hons in Fashion design in July, 2023 from Winchester School of Art, (University of Southampton). Nishat's graduate collection "When are you coming home?" featured at Graduate Fashion Week 2023 highlights the feeling of never belonging to a specific culture due to her Bengali heritage and british upbringing. The collection consists of traditional Bengali garments and western silhouettes reimagined in a contemporary way by the use of colour, print and shape.
Her designs often stem from her father’s wardrobe and experiences as a South Asian man. The clothes she makes are rich in colour, pattern, texture; focusing on sustainability through upcycling deadstock fabric and reworking old garments. “My aspiration is to create clothes that can fit different bodies regardless of age and gender, creating a space where people feel as though they belong. I do this through shape, colour and form when creating new garments”.
Sharon Lloyd
Co-founder of FACE, Sharon is a senior academic and Course Leader of MA Make-up and Hair Futures at Solent University. Her interdisciplinary research explores and challenges the relationship between fashion, make-up and body image and she has been interviewed on these topics by Vogue Business, the National Museums Scotland, SHOWstudio, and The Female Lead.
The focus of Sharon’s academic leadership is the development of inclusivity, engagement and integrity within the production of beauty and identity, and how this approach can lead to race equity within education. In 2020 she participated in a joint steering committee with the Hair & Beauty Industry Authority (HABIA) to change the National Occupational Standards (NOS) to ensure Black hairdressing became a standard core learning module for new hairdressers. She is currently Co-Chair of the British Beauty Council’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity committee.
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Panel 2.
Chair: Asiya Durrani-McCann has been a proud member of FACE since the start. With a career of almost 30 years, within the international luxury & fashion marketing and industry at directorial level, providing direct experience to accelerate and apply into academia. A visionary with a solid reputation as a focused creative business strategist with insight for defining and directing the vision of luxury brands. Experience and success working on a large profile of globally recognised brands. Asiya has led international teams as a brand manager, director, collaborator, buyer and consultant. Asiya’s career journey and achievements with leading renowned high luxury fashion international brands to name a few: Vivienne Westwood, Donna Karen, Purple PR, Erickson Beamon, Swarovski Atelier, Diarough Diamonds, Hervia, Betony Vernon, Sabirah & Monvieve gaining an international status within the industry. Curator of @90from90s a personal archive of 90s luxury designer pieces.
Nada Koreish
Is a UK based, Egyptian disruptor, educator, designer, mother and researcher.
Nada started her career as a multiplatform designer, art director and trend forecaster in the states, NYC. later, she moved and worked in Egypt and Wales. she is currently a fashion design lecturer at School of Art and Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University, where she also teaches across the school on a multitude of disciplines and levels. Nada is also a FACE (fashion academics creating equality) academic and founder of Fashion liberation collective and a co creator of the global fashioning assembly.
Nada has over 7 years lecturing experience and nearly two decades of industry experience, she launched her collective (FLCNA) in 2020, which led to her embarking on her PhD journey.
Nada is an active researcher, disruptor and embraces decoloniality in all her teaching events and way of lfe, introducing new methods of learning and teaching criticality around less traditional topics such as wokeness, decoloniality, identity and agency, whilst analysing Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, egyptomania and the theory of orientalism.
Daniel Peters
Launched in July 2020 by brand and marketing specialist, Daniel Peters, The (Fashion) Minority Report exists to create equality within the fashion industry and creative sector for diverse professionals, by advancing the conversation around inclusion and diversity to a point of measurable change.
We connect with a broad reach of clients to help them create Inclusive Workplace Cultures, by developing strategies and delivering solutions unique to their businesses that foster a more inclusive community which supports existing talent. A key element of our strategy is to provide a funnel to integrate underrepresented professional talent into these companies, in turn bolstering the sector as a whole and making it more diverse.
Peters, a Peckham native, also sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee at the British Fashion Council, and the Fashion Website - https://fashionminorityreport.com/hub
Tre Koch
Having worked in fashion for over a decade, Tré brings new meaning to the term multi-hyphenate. As an Artist turned Agent, Tré knows both sides of the industry and is here to protect his Artists’ integrity. His skills and experience have led him to shoot, cast, direct, style and consult for numerous clients around the world. His mission to support the next generation of artists, while simultaneously being one, is a feat in itself.
Deborah Latouche
Deborah is the Creative Director and founder of Luxury, Sustainably Conscious, and Modest Wear Brand SABIRAH
After years of working in the fashion industry as a stylist and journalist for companies such as Elle Italia, The Sunday Times and Universal Music – Deborah launched SABIRAH in February 2020 at London Fashion Week (LFW)
For 2 seasons SABIRAH showed under the British Fashion Council’s LFW DiscoveryLab that aims to support emerging and promising designers allowing them to gain exposure.
SABIRAH is also part of the Black Business Incubator and regularly holds showrooms at Somerset House.
SABIRAH believes in the elevation of ALL womxn regardless of size, religion or race and wants all women to feel beautiful and empowered without the need to reveal.
Anita Chhiba
Anita Chhiba is a New Zealand born, London based creative director, host and cultural consultant. Having worked in advertising over the last 10 years across creative, social and production, has a solid portfolio of brands under her belt.
Currently five years in to life in London, Anita has carved her own lane. Moving away from agency life in 2021 to focus on her community platform Diet Paratha. The burgeoning platform has quickly become the global home to the best creative talent across the South Asian diaspora. The platform shines a light on South Asian talent without pandering to a white gaze, all while providing a space for the community to connect. Working alongside the likes of Burberry, Vogue, Gucci, BYREDO, Johnnie Walker & Simone Ashley, BFC Adidas & Nowness, eBay, Tate Modern to create vividly special campaigns for the global South Asian community. Most memorably, Anita was asked to curate the Vogue India Youthquake folio of feb 2022. Hand picking a global roster of stylists, models, photographers and talent to bring the project to life. Resulting in 27 pages in the February 2022 print and a digital cover which she creatively directed and graced herself.
Alongside creating a community with cultural influence, Anita is also acts as a freelance cultural consultant and casting agent for luxury brands and editorials. Creating strategies that deliver meaningful change. Through community focussed campaigns and partnerships. As well as creating opportunity for those wanting to enter the creative industries through her mentoring programme. Pairing candidates of South Asian heritage with culturally competent mentors.
Kirsten Gair
I am a costume design trainee for film and tv with over a years’ experience in the film industry. I have worked on several different productions like Good Omens 2 and Midsomer Murders. I graduated with my BA(Hons) in Fashion and Textiles from Gray’s School of Art and a Masters in Textiles from Edinburgh College of Art. As well as being apart of Christopher Kane’s in collaboration with FACE Instagram Platform edition 4. I have also been selected by Lateral Labs as one of twelve up and coming emerging Scottish artists to take part in their ‘correspondence’ project which has recently led to an art exhibition in Japan and in the process of exhibiting in Chile. I would like to continue to build a creative career in both the film and fashion industry.