| By Veronica Wong Diffa
AKHILA KUMAR
UCA Fashion Graduate
Akhila Kumar, 'Fishes For Plastic' with her sustainable pre collection.
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Akhila Kumar, 24 year old UCA fashion graduate, is remodelling the use of rice sacks in a memorable sustainable pre-collection. Rightfully named, 'Fishing For Plastic', Kumar took inspiration from her trip to India where she saw the countries drastic changes to decrease ocean pollution. Here, she decided to create a collection made from materials found in the oceans and lakes of India, encouraging others to re-use and recycle materials. Akhila’s collection has been nominated to enter the Redress Design Award – a worldwide sustainable fashion design competition. Kumar gives Motion Magazine an insight into the development behind the vibrant collection and her career goals for the future.
VWD: When did your love for design and creativity begin?
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AK: My auntie is a tailor in India, and I used to love watching her make clothes for clients. Whenever I visited, she would make me little material souvenirs to take back home. My Grandpa also used to be a weaver and he would weave all these beautiful silk fabrics. I was always interested in their craft and loved receiving hand-made gifts from them.
VWD: Is Fashion Design something you’ve always wanted to do?
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AK: No, frankly not [Laughs]. It was something I admired. When I was young, I was more into science and I wanted to go in that direction. I came to the realisation that I wanted to study Fashion Design at around 18 years old. I realised that I’m good at it and I actually enjoy it. I thought that fashion was just clothes making; I didn’t think you could bring other elements into it like science. Once I started seeing that I could make good changes for the environment by working with sustainable products, I knew that Fashion Design is what I wanted to do. I’m good at it and enjoy it.
VWD: Do you have any inspirational artists and what do you like about them?
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AK: I look up to Alexander McQueen and Dior. With Alexander McQueen, I like how he’s never stuck to the trend forecast, like what WGSN predicts. He continuously applied the concept of nature. I also found it most interesting when he brought in other elements too - SS20 is one of my favourite collections. Dior, on the other hand, is very delicate, handmade, proper couture, and is a big house that has been around for years. That’s one of the reasons why I love Dior.
VWD: Describe your style of design in three words.
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AK: Long lasting, handmade, and sustainable. Those three are really important to me.
It’s quite girly and quirky, as well as very vibrant, but sustainability is one aspect I try to maintain throughout.
VWD: What is your favourite part of designing?
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AK: Research is one of my favourite aspects, as well as pattern cutting. I’m also very into textiles, so I like to experiment and make different materials rather than using fabrics that are already out there.
VWD: What is the inspiration behind your collection and how is it reflected?
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AK: My inspiration came from a trip I took to India. We stopped going on holiday there for while so when I went back after 8 years, in 2018, I found that the beaches were really clean compared to before. My uncle and I went to grab some fish early in the morning at 5am, to get the fish as fresh as possible, and when they were bringing the boats in, I saw that they were bringing in massive fish nets filled with plastic.
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They told me a story about how they started a recycling centre; the fishermen would bring in the catch, including all the plastic, and take it to be recycled. At the moment, they are shredding the plastics down and turning it into roads; it was really interesting to me.
I got in touch with the recycling centre and they were more than happy to lend me a hand. They shipped over a few KGs of rice sacks to me, which was one of the main items they were pulling in from the sea and some of the rivers. I used the rice sacks to make my garments rather than bought fabrics.
VWD: What is your pre-collection about and what has it been nominated for?
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AK: I have been nominated to enter the Redress Design Award. It’s a sustainability award focussing on young designers who re-use and recycle materials to make garments. My course leader approached me and said my collection would be perfect for it! My pre-collection, called ‘Fishing For Plastic’ was inspired by ocean pollution and how the items that are chucked into the ocean affect marine life.
VWD: Was it difficult making your collection sustainable and why is sustainability important to you?
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AK: I work at the V&A museum and have been exposed to how the world is trying to change, for the better, through their exhibitions and talks. I believe if we want to make a change, it’s best to re-use what we have rather than make more.
When I first presented my collection idea to my teacher, he didn’t think it was going to work because they were just as worried as I was, that it was not going to look good. People may not want to wear or pay for it. We had loads of disagreements of some sorts because with the fashion industry, as much as they like it to be sustainable, it has to be something you can sell and something you can see on the catwalk. But, as soon as we started doing experiments, trying to manipulate the materials to make it look good as well as being recycled and sustainable, everything came together.
VWD: What advice would you give someone that wants to pursue a career in fashion?
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AK: I would say, you shouldn’t take it lightly. Some people don’t realise that Fashion Design is very time consuming; you need to put a lot of your time and effort into it. There will be lots of challenges, and it’s not going to be easy.
VWD: Where do you see your work developing in the future?
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AK: I want to keep working with sustainability. I attended an event at the V&A about ocean pollution and learnt how three plastic bottles can make an 8cm square of fabric. So rather than having these plastics sit in a dumpster, where it would take years for it to break down, you can re-use it!
In the future, I would like to have my own label as I think it would tie in nicely with what my Grandpa used to do. I want to bring back those hand-made and hand-woven industries. It is an industry that is slowly dying little by little because you can buy woven fabrics, that are machine-made rather than handmade, for cheaper. I think hand-woven fabrics are better as they are done traditionally, only using natural processes and raw materials - it’s 100% good for the environment!