Libby Hudson

Aecora

Libby Hudson is a final year Fashion Business and Promotion Student. Her project combines innovative technology with environment-conscious fashion. 

Fashion Business and Promotion Student

Give us a brief overview of your project

For my Independent Final Project I am developing a hypothetical ocean-conscious range for an existing luxury brand with a supporting digital wardrobe app. The concept is that each ocean-conscious garment will have a digital twin which will have the garment’s journey attached to it, tracked using eco-blockchain.

The garment’s journey will include information such as raw material source and manufacturer and the wearer will have the opportunity to attach their own memories to the garment to encourage wearers to think more about their relationships with clothing and live and wear with more intent. To reinforce this message and encourage longevity, the digital twins will also evolve to be personalised to the owner based on what inspires them. The digital twins will live in a digital wardrobe on the app that features an ocean-inspired Metaverse world. This concept feeds into several key drivers including the importance of action from fashion in terms of sustainability, the demand for radical traceability and authenticity, personalisation, phygital living, and the growth of Web3.  

Why did you choose this concept?

I am passionate about exploring how fashion’s impact on the environment can be addressed and improved. I believe that fashion can work in harmony with the planet without losing the creativity that goes into it, but current practices and attitudes towards consumption must change. I wanted to explore the role that material usage, ethical production, radical traceability and digital twins could have to play in this. I’m also interested in how interconnected the ocean is with other elements of the natural environment and human health which further emphasises the importance of protecting it. This is something that I explored for my dissertation and wanted to explore further in this project.

What processes have you been using?

I am going to explore the application of digital fashion and Metaverse environments in an accessible app by working with digital fashion designers to develop several creative outcomes. I am also going to apply my creativity and technical skills to create various mock-ups, branding and marketing collateral for the concept. Additionally, I will consider the practicalities and approach the project from a business viewpoint by creating an in-depth business plan.  

What do you hope to achieve with your project?

I hope to not only learn more about digital twinning, material usage in fashion and creating a financially viable business extension, but also create a collection of work that could inspire what a better fashion industry could look like. I want to be able to showcase this work and my ideas as I go out into industry, demonstrating the skills and knowledge I have gained whilst being at BCU. 

How has your course helped you to prepare for working on your project?

I have developed my knowledge of both business and fashion to learn how to merge the creative with business to create future viable innovative concepts. The course has helped me to develop many skills including creativity, organisation, commercial awareness, research and written and verbal communication. I have particularly developed these skills through working on live projects with large brands like Selfridges and Gymshark. The continual support from my lecturers has helped me to push my work as far as I can, be ambitious with my ideas and always believe in myself. 

View video transcription

Libby: I'm proud of my project. I think it's nice seeing it come together after all the others that I've put in it. My name is Libby and I am on Fashion Business and Promotion. My project is a 12 piece hypothetical Ocean Conscious collection. So this is looking at innovative and sustainable materials and dyes and things that work with nature rather than against nature.

An important part of my concept is digital twinning. So each garment will have a digital counterpart. Within this kind of Ocean metaverse. I visit some of these vintage shops because it's a great way to gain inspiration for the aesthetics of the kind of things I'm designing. Whether that's branding or product, because there's a lot of different of a range of aesthetics defy current trends as well.

As the collection was related to the sea I definitely wanted to do a swimsuit So I tried to do an elevated kind of simple swimsuit and the name means wave, vibe or ripple in Spanish. I have printed out my A1 posters and which I designed using Adobe software. I finished my app mock-up and I've also made a video which showcases my project.

I'm really excited to showcase my work, also see everyone else's work and just have a great way to mark the end of my degree.