RFW Academia

“Design education needs a radical overhaul, argues trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort.” Credit: Business of Fashion

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines upcycling as: “to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item : to create an object of greater value from (a discarded object of lesser value)”. Credit: Miriam-Webster

„I have recently read a book entitled ‘Marcel Duchamp – The Afternoon Interviews’ featuring conversations from 1964. What caught my attention and inspired me is the way the artist relates to ready-made objects, including existing pieces. When I work, for example, with trainers that I upcycle, I think of his projects.” Ancuța Sarca in AList Magazine, 2024.

“Working with a small Portuguese manufacturer called Dcloset, Serre has taken a little over four years to design and finetune the upcycling process. In interviews she has said that designing out of existing clothes is a backwards process. Instead of drawing whatever comes out of your head and then having fabric made up to realise it, she tells sorters what to look for and then reverse-engineers what is brought to her, reconciling the ideas in her head with the materials she is furnished with.” Clara Young about Marine Serre for Art Review.

21st century couture working methods and techniques – used to create new and innovative products.

Following the theme of responsible design, as a continuation of last year’s Call, each student/master/PhD candidate will submit a proposal for a collection of 10 sketches. In these sketches, they will showcase their unique vision and interpretation of the concept of “Couture-à-Porter” by incorporating upcycling techniques.

The starting points can be related to any kind of cultural or artistic references in the creative industries and beyond. You have the freedom to build your own story around the theme, telling something authentic, original, and innovative about the clothing morphologies you approach.

From an upcycling perspective, you can indicate that you will use any type of garment or textile surface that you plan to transform in creating the collection. The sketches will showcase these technical processes, as well as highlight specific couture techniques that will be employed to craft/complete/personalize the pieces.

• November 20th, 2024 – launching the theme on romaniancreativeweek.ro and to the Fashion Departments of the 6 Universities invited to RCW25.
• January 20th, 2025 – closing applications.
• January 31st – announcement of Finalists.
• February 2025 – After shortlisting the finalists, a mentoring session with the RFW team will
  follow to prepare the capsule collections that will be presented at the festival in May.
• Each finalist will produce five outfits.
• May 15th, 2025 – the capsule collections must be received in Iași, at CONFECȚII INTEGRATE
  MOLDOVA, Str. Bucium, nr. 34. The contact person is AURA POPA – 0730 900 220. Alternatively, the collections can be brought to the address indicated by the finalists themselves.
• May 23rd, 2025 – The finalists’ capsule collections will be showed at Romanian Creative Week, Romanian Fashion Week, RFW Academia.
• A professional jury will award the winner..

The RFW ACADEMY AWARD will consist of a check for 1500 EUR, a gift pack of supplies – both granted by FREUDENBERG, and an invitation to be part of the curatorial selection of RFW NEW WAVE in 2026.

• Eligible participants for the Call are BA, MA and PhD candidates from any year of study.
• Each of the 10 sketches from the submitted collection will be included on an A3 landscape plates, which will include: artistic sketch (front and back representation), technical drawings (front and back representation), cutting and technical details, fabric swatches, pattern samples. All elements included on the sketch must be original (if you wish to insert small
  images with cultural references, they must be accompanied by credits).
• One-page explanatory text showcasing the candidate’s approach, alignment with the
  competition theme, and incorporation of a sustainable approach.
• Please indicate the year of study and the art university where you are registered.

• adherence to the indicated concept
• cultural and conceptual references
• incorporation of upcycling-specific processes
• presence of specific couture elements
• originality
• cutting solutions
• Modernity and relevance in 21st-century fashion
• Adherence to the proposed sketches and accuracy of execution (this criterion will be considered when the finalists are judged in May 2025)
• Innovation in the level of interventions on textile surfaces (this criterion will be considered when judging the finalists in May 2025).

The jury for both stages – in January 2025 and May 2025 – is composed of: ALEXANDRU ABAGIU, LUCIAN BROSCĂȚEAN, OVIDIU BUTA, IOANA CIOLACU, SORIN STRATULAT and one representative from each of the 6 invited Art Universities.

Good luck & creative energy for working on sketches and collections!

RCW is an intersecting platform for emerging creative languages. Within RCW, various expressions and forms of Art, Design, and creativity come together to interact and generate new areas of communication and collaboration. In RCW, artistic expressions, conceptual design, technological innovation, and cultural trends not only coexist but also intertwine organically, creating syncretic and fertile spaces for new forms of interdisciplinary communication and collaboration.

RFW ACADEMIA & RFW NEW WAVE are coordinated by Lucian Broscățean and Ioana Ciolacu. The platforms continue the mission of the Young Designers and Debut Section of ROMANIAN FASHION WEEK, which since the late 90s has discovered, launched, promoted, and supported many designers who are now successful through their brands, or in national and international professional environments.

Within ROMANIAN FASHION WEEK and as part of the ROMANIAN CREATIVE WEEK festival, the RFW section contributes to building ecosystems that generate ideas, concepts, stories, and visual identities relevant to the creative industries.

ROMANIAN CREATIVE WEEK is organized by ROMANIAN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS FEDERATION (FEPIC) – the only nationally representative employers’ federation working in the Creative Industries cluster in Romania. It was established in Iasi in August 2011. So far, FEPIC has organized more than 50 national and international promotion actions for the Romanian creative industries, including fields such as fashion design, film and television industry, advertising, IT, music, and so on.

The main goal of FEPIC is to support creatives and creativity directly. It is also important to bring together young creatives and established names in Romanian creativity with the shared goal of promoting, developing, and strengthening the creative industries in Romania and the region. The objectives of FEPIC include areas related to mutual recognition and administrative support of creativity, as well as identifying ways in which creativity can and should contribute to the economic, cultural, and social development of communities.