Documentary

Conversations about turning their inspiration into an active community project grew when Sarah Burton was introduced to the work of Charlotte James and Clémentine Schneidermann. They have built a highly original and socially impactful fashion image-making relationship with youth groups in Wales for six years under their project Ffasiwn Stiwdio with school-age children in the communities of South Wales. Charlotte James is a Welsh creative director and filmmaker whose hometown is Merthyr Tydfil, Clémentine Schneidermann is a French documentary photographer, also living in Wales. Over several months last year, they collaborated with Alexander McQueen’s studio, who sent members of their in-house embroidery, studio and education teams to Blaenau Gwent. A series of immersive fashion, photography and embroidery workshops were built encouraging the young people to explore their own vision. Conceptualised by Charlotte and Clémentine together with the McQueen team and coordinated by youth worker, Michelle Hurter at Blaina Community Centre, the project started in June 2020. A series of immersive Fashion, customisation and photography workshops were built and designed to offer hands-on experiences of the ways to make clothes and images. Over months of on-off restrictions, members of the McQueen team travelled to collaborate with the group of twelve-to seventeen-year- olds in Covid-secure sessions and continued remotely when they couldn’t.