Fashion In The Digital World Symposium

The event kicked off with a keynote speech ‘A Screen-less Society’ from Dr Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro, Head of Metaverse Fashion Week, that took the audience on an interactive journey using augmented reality.

The conference was a pivotal component of Interchange Week, bringing the creative minds of students and industry professionals together to be curious about how to prepare for a new digital realm.

Dr Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro said of the event:

“Knowledge sharing is like open source culture: improve what we know and spread critical thinking. Events like this are crucial to build new ways of looking at innovation, connect young professionals to pioneers and foment business opportunities beyond the traditional market.”

“I love the initiative and the teams attitude towards finding new ways to share knowledge. To me, the whole process was smooth and eye opening, with the university accepting my concept of interactive presentation with AR. The students surprised me with their questions, they pinpointed very specific key questions such as gender equality, inclusion, identity building in the virtual world and more. Seeing the sense of accountability in their discourse gives me a good feeling about the future of technology in fashion.”

Holly Farrar, Lecturer on BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Promotion chaired a panel discussion with leading professionals from the fashion industry. She was joined by Marco Marchesi, CTO The Fabricant, Lauren Ingram, founder of Women of Web3 and Dan Hastings-Narayanin, Deputy Foresight Editor LS:N Global, The Future Laboratory. The panel discussed topics such as decoding digital fashion, sustainability in the digital world of fashion and how students can prepare for this new digital landscape. The talk sparked a string of vibrant questions amongst attendees and visitors.

The afternoon brought networking opportunities in the foyer of Duke Street Riverside, where participants were encouraged to engage in active conversations and debate. Finally, a series of speed mentoring sessions offered an invaluable one on one interaction between guests and the visiting industry professionals.

This event was hosted by: BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Promotion and BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and Business.

Photography by: Andi Sapey