Prelude to fashion festival is ready to kick off

The seventh Edinburgh International Fashion Festival kicks off with a prelude event tomorrow (Thursday, 26 April) at The Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh ‒ The Caledonian.

A highlight of Scotland’s cultural calendar, the festival, curated by Dutch supermodel and Edinburgh-based Anna Freemantle-Zee, will comprise a series of inspiring events including groundbreaking fashion film screenings and thought-provoking panel discussions.

The festival will commence with the Scottish premiere screening of a documentary on sustainability in fashion production, entitled Allegory of Water and directed by Elena Petitti di Roreto for Vogue Italia, which will be followed by a panel discussion on ‘sustainable luxury’ put together by internationally-renowned make-up artist Ana Cruzalegui.

The screening coincides with Fashion Revolution Week, an annual reflection on the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza clothing factory in Bangladesh that killed 1138 people.

Panel members include Lynn Wilson and Niki Taylor of Fashion Revolution, designer Rachel McMillan (winner of Best New Sustainable Online Business at last year’s Herald Fashion Awards), and Dr Sue Thomas (author of Fashion Ethics and lecturer at Heriot-Watt University).

Dutch supermodel Anna Freemantle-Zee is Edinburgh-based

The festival’s headline event takes place on Friday, 1 June, with an opulent dining experience run in collaboration with London design house Osman and themed on its House Party collection exhibited at London Fashion Week.

This electrifying event will comprise bold fashion, a DJ set by internationally-acclaimed Edinburgh artist Theo Kottis, a performance by Scottish contemporary dancers, food by Michelin star-winning chefs the Galvin brothers that corresponds to the prevailing design, texture, and colour of the occasion. Tickets for the theatrical dinner are on sale HERE.

A busy programme continues with a reflection on the stellar career in fashion and textiles of James Sugden, a leading figure in the British manufacturing industry who recently died aged 71, and a talk discussing the process and intricacies of running the oldest traditionally-run mill, The Knockando Woolmill.

Dates and times for these two events are to be confirmed.