Dedicated Followers of Fashion

On Wednesday, 25 April 2018, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) held the sixth event of the monthly series Dialogues, entitled “Dedicated Followers of Fashion,” at the Lighthouse of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

Dr. Fiori Zafeiropoulou, Country Coordinator of the global movement Fashion Revolution in Greece and Co-founder of the Social Fashion Factory, SOFFA, the fashion designer, Dimitris Petrou, journalist Effie Falida and blogger Nancy Spathi, met onstage to discuss fashion, in an effort to approach and highlight the multiple and often contradictory faces of the fashion world.

As the representative of the global Fashion Revolution community in Greece, Dr. Fiori Zafeiropoulou talked about the “stories behind fashion,” stressing the significance of transparency in clothing production conditions and mainly in working conditions across multinational clothing industries. Additionally, she referred to whether fashion can have an environmental consciousness, commenting on the Greenwashing phenomenon and the trend of big companies seemingly adopting policies—for publicity purposes—that are advertised as friendly towards the environment, while their proper implementation is quite far from reality.

The fashion designer, Dimitris Petrou, referred to fashion as a “general idea” that concerns all of us, as well as to its multiple manifestations, and talked about the limitations imposed by the Greek fashion industry on the work of a designer, as well as the history acquired by handmade pieces of clothing.

Journalist Effie Falida, mentioned, among others, the changing dynamics of fashion and clothing as “signs of the times”, reflecting social and cultural changes, while stressing the role of tradition and history in shaping modern trends, as well as the importance of craftsmanship, which makes a return in the intercultural and economic reality of today’s fashion.

Drawing from her own experience, blogger Nancy Spathi talked about the role and dynamics of fashion blogging, which, as she characteristically mentioned, has brought the world of fashion back to reality, making it more accessible and decipherable to the general public, calling everyone to become part of it.

In Brief

The SNF Dialogues are curated and moderated by Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.

*The opinions expressed by the SNF Dialogues participants, whether representing officially institutions and organizations or themselves, are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) or iMEdD. Speakers’ remarks are made freely, without prior guidance or intervention from the team.