RECOMPOSE at Fashion Prosperity Conference

The Fashion Prosperity conference, hosted by Università degli Studi di Firenze, was held at the historic Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti. This venue is renowned as the first location in Italy where a fashion show was presented, potentially marking the origin of Made in Italy. The conference aimed to rethink fashion by exploring relationality as a fundamental component of a new conception of prosperity. This notion of prosperity was conceived as a resource of both economic and human value, generated by a community operating within environmental and ethical constraints.

RECOMPOSE

Delfina Fantini van Ditmar, Professor Regenerative Art and Design at CARADT, presented RECOMPOSE during the conference, an invitation to explore the pedagogical environment as a regenerative front-line. Together with Louis Bythell-Alderson (LAB), she posed the following questions: What happens when regenerative or more ecological materials encounter unsustainable, non-regenerative systems? How does direct engagement with an environment inform an understanding of the systemic conditions of fashion creation?

RECOMPOSE highlights the necessity of engaging in regeneration within educational contexts beyond mere discussions about fibers and materials. It calls for connecting regenerative approaches with fashion systems by engaging with locality and systems operating at different scales.

The Fashion Prosperity conference provided an important platform to discuss how fashion systems could integrate more responsible and ecological approaches, fostering a broader understanding of prosperity that values relationality, ethics, and environmental awareness.

Publication

Fantini van Ditmar, D., Alderson-Bythell, L., Broach, Z., & Roach, L. (2025). RECOMPOSE: An Invitation to Explore the Pedagogical Environment as a Regenerative Front-Line. Fashion Highlight, (SI1), 172–185. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3137