Vision

Practice Held in Common (Fashion Design) embraces fashion as a mode of human togetherness. There is never an 'I' before 'we'; being is always already 'being with'.

Fashion is the affirmation of that relationship and a vital part of our human experience. It is our common ground through which we share and position ourselves. Fashion is the expression of our desire to belong and our intrinsic need to contribute; our presence and our dress are a gift to the world.
Human plurality is the dynamic agent of fashion; by being together our differences come into play, each of us contributing our unique voice and perspective. In this vivid dance, we exchange, we inspire, we create, and we celebrate; together we are in a perpetual state of becoming.

With the awareness of the joyful potential of our interdependence, how do we create our actions and activities to be of benefit to others? How do we engage the transformative power of fashion to empower ourselves and our communities? How can we shape our (material) fashion practices to become catalysts for social, economic, ecological and cultural change?

In Practice Held in Common (Fashion Design) we wish to actively engage fashion's compassionate potential to meet our common needs for connection, belonging, exchange, mutuality and well-being.

Textile Roots, introduction week Fashion held in Common at Farm of the World, Húns, Friesland. Photograph: Takahiro Hasegawa.