Fashion Revolution presents How to be a Fashion Revolutionary at the British Textile Biennial 2023

In a display of archival Zine covers, poems and illustrations, the exhibition follows the environmental and human problems inherent in the fashion industry, maps out creative solutions and charts a course for change. It proudly features artwork designed or commissioned by Fashion Revolution Global and Fashion Revolution teams in Argentina, Brazil, India and Singapore to paint a global picture of action and resistance, and to invite new audiences on their fashion activism journeys.

The installation will be brought to life by a video montage capturing the evolution of Fashion Revolution into a global movement spanning 75 countries, and an interactive conversation map where visitors can respond to questions posed throughout the exhibition. Developed by Talk Climate Change for Fashion Revolution Week 2023, the Fashion Revolution Map is a global forum for Fashion Revolutionaries around the world to exchange knowledge, inspiration and ideas for change. At the exhibition, the map will serve as a conversation tool for the local community and capture the responses of newly initiated Fashion Revolutionaries. 

The British Textile Biennial is taking place across Eastern Lancashire, a cultural and historic symbol of the global textile industry. Taken from the British Textile Biennial 2023 programme, “the industrial revolution transformed rural East Lancashire into an engine of fast fashion at the epicentre of a web that stretched across the globe; commandeering human and environmental resources across continents in a vicious cycle of labour, manufacture and trade that persists today and which we now know is unsustainable”. How to be a Fashion Revolutionary recognises and responds to these issues and encourages visitors to collectively reimagine what a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry could look like.

“Storytelling has always been such a vital part of our work and is integral for capturing new hearts and minds in our global community. Through revisiting the Fashion Revolution archives, visitors can explore artistic interpretations of fashion’s potential to harm and heal, and will find themselves similarly transformed by illustration and poetry. How to be a Fashion Revolutionary is based on the delightfully simple premise that anyone can be a Fashion Revolutionary. It starts with being curious, finding out and doing something, and this exhibition will guide you on your journey to action.” - Mel Watt, Digital Communications Manager at Fashion Revolution