LFW: Future Collective with Fashion Scout

Fashion Scout is at the heart of London Fashion Week’s off-schedule championing and empowering emerging fashion and accessories designers from around the world. One of the standout moments was its Future Collective show, which debut three talented emerging designers - Gyouree Kim, Figura Services, and Felix Bendish.

FashionUnited chatted to all three rising talents after their show to find out more about their brands, the inspiration behind their debut LFW collections, how they approach sustainability, and their plans for the future.

Gyouree Kim

South Korean-born, UK-based fashion designer Gyouree Kim, who studied at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, has more than five years of technical garment-making experience under her belt and has created a brand utilising deadstock materials and off-cut fabrics.

Kim blends historical fashion with a contemporary aesthetic to craft garments featuring corsetry and intricate layering to produce unique and statement pieces. For autumn/winter 2023, Kim took inspiration from imaginary guardians protecting the earth for her natural-toned collection of dresses and separates made from deadstock cotton and lace.

As debuts go, you don’t get much better than this. Kim’s collection was filled with creativity and craftsmanship, with a desire to show that sustainability is achievable for a young, emerging designer. As well as having success at LFW, Kim also recently worked with singer Sam Smith, creating outfits from recycled materials for their dancers.

How would you describe your brand’s aesthetic?

Detailed, intricately layered quality array of garments through corset elements and a mix of historical and contemporary aesthetics.

What’s the inspiration behind your autumn/winter 2023 collection?

Inspired by flora and the guardians, I imagine the forest guardians protecting and looking after mother earth. I wanted to give viewers a feeling of tranquillity as if they were stepping into the mystic forest.

The collection shows historically inspired silhouettes, those combined with corsetry, craftsmanship and the use of natural materials.

How do you implement sustainable practices into your designs?

I use deadstock materials and off-cut fabrics for my collection. It is inseparable from my making process to make use of mediums that would otherwise be overlooked or discarded as waste materials.

What did it mean to you to show at London Fashion Week?

As an independent designer, London Fashion Week is no doubt one of the biggest opportunities to showcase my brand and reveal who I am. Make people aware of my brand, also to connect with more people by joining the bigger world. It is a start.

Who in the fashion industry inspires you?

Helmut Lang. His exceptional intellect in blending art and fashion is what inspired me the most when I started learning fashion. I also love the deconstructive design approach of the brand Margiela, and I love the sustainable awareness and social interaction of the brand Vivienne Westwood. Quite hard to name one.

What’s next for your brand?

Finding funding, get an office studio/showroom!

Figura Services

Figura Services, founded in 2021 by talented design duo Celeste and Valerio, is described as an “evolving mutation,” with the brand experimenting with creating uniforms of expression that perceive the dark alluring psyche of those that wear it.

For autumn/winter 2023, ‘The Damage Done’ collection evokes the idea of a laboratory experiment gone wrong, with pieces emphasising the theme of wrongness, including one look where the model wore a shirt in a dry-cleaning bag around her neck.

Other looks highlighting the brand’s laboratory aesthetic including oversized coats with faux fur collars, dresses made out of paper-touch fabric, puffer jackets and wide-leg trousers.

How would you describe your brand’s aesthetic?

We don't like to label our work. We think it is a process of evolving mutation.

What’s the inspiration behind your autumn/winter 2023 collection?

‘The Damage Done’ evokes the idea of a laboratory experiment gone wrong. Humans are curious, but they also fear where their curiosity will lead them – Overconfidence breeds tragedy and a monster rises from the storm.

The pieces making up this collection emphasise the theme of wrongness, alongside the laboratory aesthetic as the core of the brand’s DNA.

How do you implement sustainable practices into your designs?

Most of the fabrics we used in our collections have an environmental product certification which attests that they have been removed from processes of devaluation and promoted to new uses. This certification is an environmental statement concerning the recovery processes of fabrics that guarantees the transparency and traceability of the fabrics from their origin.

Choosing these fabrics allows us to characterise our collections in terms of sustainability. All our products are made to order, artisanal and produced in limited quantities.

What did it mean to you to show at London Fashion Week?

LFW has always been a goal of ours. It is inspiring for us to be able to express what we believe in and it will always be more so.

Who in the fashion industry inspires you?

The ones who are pushing boundaries, provoking and shouting.

Felix Bendish

Mumbai-based Felix Bendish, who has previously taken part in India Fashion Week, celebrates handmade and embroidered craftsmanship, blending traditional techniques with modern digital printing to provide a new perspective.

He draws inspiration from nature, textures, art and architecture to create his intricate and colourful embroideries, utilising luxurious fabrics like chamois silk, twills, velvet, and georgette in his collections.

For autumn/winter 2023, Bendish takes inspiration from the element of fire, using vivid colours to create a butterfly, which features mirrored and colourful embellishments across his dresses and headpieces, and as a print on his tailoring.

How would you describe your brand’s aesthetic?

My love for embroidery has always been there since I started in fashion. This very medium I translate onto quirky fashion clothing and accessories, as well as digitally printing embroideries to give an additional illusion. This is the USP of my brand.

What’s the inspiration behind your autumn/winter 2023 collection?

For the last two seasons I have been working on the five elements. This season the collection is entitled “Cerebral Morphism” and I have taken Thermal forms inspired by the element of Fire. The vivid colours of the brain gradually morph into a butterfly concept and the garments go through layers and fabric moulds of textures and embroidery patterns.

How do you implement sustainable practices into your designs?

I love the idea of recycling old clothes and fabrics. In my current collection, I have distorted my very old garments and reused them in a new format. The collection also has layers of surface ornamentation where I enjoyed using leftover fabrics.

What did it mean to you to show at London Fashion Week?

London Fashion Week is one of the most important fashion capitals of the world. It allows me to explore fashion in streetwear and ready-to-wear, I can be creative, and quirky and craft bold fashion statement pieces. For me, London Fashion Week is magical.

Who in the fashion industry inspires you?

I do like designers including Oliver Rousteing, John Galliano and Stephen jones, as well as being a big fan of creative artists like the late Vivienne Westwood, Thierry Mugler and Alexandra McQueen.

What’s next for your brand?

I want people to enjoy and wear the clothes and accessories that I craft and hopefully see my collections in more and more stores across the globe.