LCI Barcelona celebrates the 2nd edition of its Fashion Symposium

Numerous design professionals met this Wednesday at our campus to participate in the II Fashion Design Symposium of LCI Barcelona. All the activities of this edition revolved around the role of technology and social networks as change agents in the fashion industry.

The day began with a talk by Alfredo Orobio, founder of Away To Mars, a fashion crowdsourcing platform that proposes the design of its collections as a great teamwork in which hundreds of people from around the world collaborate. Alfredo explained the philosophy and disruptive value of this co-creation project that makes fashion a more participative, democratic and transparent process.

Then came the panel "Fashion identities in the digital era" with Monica Titton, PhD in Sociology and researcher at the Austrian Center for Fashion Research, who presented her article "Blogging the Female Self: Authorship, Self-Performance and Identity Politics in Fashion Blogs". Together with the designers Saúl Baeza and Laura Núñez del Arco and the creative Eme Rock, they talked about how digital technologies transform the development and diffusion of identities in the midst of a debate on femininity, gender issues and identity policies that are challenging the sector's conventional ecosystem. The round table was moderated by Estel Vilaseca, head of Fashion area at LCI Barcelona.

Panel "Fashion identities in the digital era"

The II Fashion Design Symposium continued with the official announcement of the winner of the Felicidad Duce Award 2019, which this year recognizes the extensive career of Jean-Paul Gaultier. Curator and fashion culture consultant Charo Mora did a portrait of the prestigious French designer, whom she defined as a "translator between the catwalk and the street". Gaultier, who is very grateful for the recognition, sent us this image:

Jean-Paul Gaultier, Felicidad Duce Award 2019

In an event dedicated to reflection on the present and the future of fashion, it was necessary to highlight the importance of additive manufacturing. Joris Debo, industrial designer and co-founder of the brand Revisited, addressed this issue in his talk "The potential of 3D manufacturing: a driving force for innovation in fashion and other creative industries". Joris referred to the multiple current applications of this technology and talked about its future implementations in design, manufacturing and service offerings ("The designers of the future will also be data managers", he said).

After a lunch break, the Fashion Symposium continued with the panel "From product design to experience design". Julia Wolny (PhD and expert in fashion digital marketing), Marta Delatte (journalist, researcher and maker) and Gemma Vallet (PhD expert in branding and digital marketing consultant), moderated by Estel Vilaseca, discussed the need to reinvent fashion design in an increasingly saturated market in order to meet functional, environmental or emotional needs and offer consumers unforgettable experiences that bring value.

The II Fashion Design Symposium concluded with the workshop "Experience design for the fashion industry" by Ryan Clott, consultant, founder and director of Fashioneers Accelerator, the first technological accelerator for fashion companies in Spain. During this practical session, participants discovered the keys to applying service design to the creative process of fashion.

Workshop "Experience design for the fashion industry"

We would like to thank all the professionals who shared their experience and knowledge with us in order to understand a paradigm shift that is demanding managers, designers and communicators a new way of understanding design. The countdown for the 3rd edition of the LCI Barcelona Fashion Design Symposium begins!