Image courtesy of: Flickr/Steve Lippitt  

Alternative Fashion Week is organised by Maggie Pinhorn & Amy Dyke-Coomes, who are the two women behind the arts organisation Alternative Arts.

Other brilliant ideas of Pinhorn’s and Dyke-Coomes include Wisewords, a series of events celebrating International Woman’s Week, and a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race open to the general public, that takes place in one of the back alleys of Spitalfields once a year.

Alternative Arts is an arts organization based in Spitalfields, East London. The word “Spital” is a contraction of the word Hospital, referring to the The New Hospital of St Mary without Bishopgate which was founded there in 1197.

Since then the area has historically been a hive of market exchange, hemmed as it now is by the Brick Lane Markets and the ever-increasingly popular Sunday UpMarket held weekly in Ely Yard. In 1999 an archeological dig in the area unearthed a Roman sarcophagi in which a woman clad in silks lay accompanied with jet accessories; an ancient follower of fashion (but not a slave!) perhaps a portent for the annual AFW which has taken place in the market for the last 14 years.

Spitalfields is a large open market with a glass roof and therefore highly accessible; "the open location provides the essential atmosphere for this exciting event," Maggie enthuses.

In an interview with Channel 3, Maggie explains that Alternative Fashion week came out of a couple of agendas. The first was the need to help regenerate the area of East London; the free event attracts a diverse audience;

"The audience is really wide, ranging from young fashionistas to city workers, the local community, shop owners and buyers, parents, friends, anyone really, even the local nursery may turn up," says Maggie.

The second agenda was the concern about a lack of visibility for young designers in the interim between leaving college and finding a space on the catwalks.

“Establishing a label is hard. It’s almost impossible to afford a catwalk show. So we raise the funds and build the catwalks," displaying an intent of genuinely "wanting to help" that regularly emanates from her warm personality.

Maggie is keen to explain that her organization's aim is to facilitate the artistic and cultural needs of a community rather than to singularly promote the world of fashions per say.

“We are not in fashion”, she explains, “We are an arts organization and we are looking at fashion as an art form and an expression of current culture.

“So what you are wearing expresses who you are and your identity which is a lot more interesting than just wearing the fashion.”

Partially out of reaction to the homogeneity of High Street fashion, alternative fashion practitioners show how a personal vocabulary of style, with all the rich associations and signification that clothes and fabrics are laden with, can facilitate the expression of individual identity.

Maggie explained why the Fashion Show is "alternative" in her mind:

"The 'alternative' is in our approach. The event is entirely free to the public and free to the designers to participate. We are interested in new ideas and innovative use of materials, recycling, ethical sourcing, originality. Here is fashion entirely unfettered by commercial constraint. A course is run for young Eastenders to design and exhibit their collection & learn about the fashion industry. We also run a free modelling course and all the models we use are new. Work experience backstage is also offered."

Similar to the Salon des Refuse in Paris in 1863, the AFW provides the fashion world with a way to view the talent of those excluded by a fashion industry which can be prohibitively expensive and limited in its opportunity for exposure.

Also similar to the rebellious spirit of the Paris salon, the AFW, which was established in 1994, has evolved into a much awaited event by the public and press alike in itself.

In addition to concern about designers, the AFW was a response to expressions of need by up-and-coming models wanting gain experience on the catwalk. As part of AFW, a special training course was set up at community centres where people could attend classes for six-weeks, one night a week under the guidance of a professional fashion choreographer.

Hundreds of designers apply from all over the UK and abroad, but only 70 are chosen:; the work of 14 designers is displayed every day. An emphasis on recycled materials and an environmental concern as regards sourcing and manufacturing has underlined the choice of designers included in the show this year.

The fashion shows run from 1.15pm everyday accompanied by live jazz with a vibrant arts market that surrounds the catwalk from 11am to 5pm each day with stalls selling a range of clothes, textiles and accessories.

Other alternative fashion shows that exist world wide are FAT - The Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion Week and the Circa Nocturna: Melbourne Alternative Fashion Show, which is a one-night event as part of the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Show.

The AFW is, however, the only event that is free to the public and the designers. The AFW seeks out public funding (Alternative Arts for all its enterprises) and creates revenue from the markets and advertising; Swatch are big players financially.

Mass production of clothes is anathema to many alternative designers, such as Aaron Ray Dowie, who last year declared about his work, and about his dedication to tailoring, that his clothes "are all bespoke, it is about keeping that quality and making sure it really fits."

London has historically been singularly fertile ground in bearing individual and sub-cultural fashion phenomena that lie in opposition to the mainstream; the home of the eccentric. Camden Market and Portobello markets, amongst others, have for a long time operated as underground outlets for alternative designers to sell hand-made, one-offs direct from maker to wearer. In many ways the AFW is a continuation of a long tradition in London as a centre of alternative fashion.

As Jonathon Ross said in a recent interview with Lady Gaga, her inimitable fashion has made her as important as her music, in the way she inspires fans dress to express themselves through their clothes at her concerts. Gaga’s style has inspired “people to be bolder, to be brasher and to be more creative”, Ross comments.

The new alternative designers premiered at the AFW, along with the models who delight in their creations, will hopefully inspire us all to express ourselves in new and creative ways that even the House of Gaga has yet to come up with.

Alternative Fashion Week

Dates: 19-23 April 2010
Venue:Spitalfields Traders MarketCrispin PlaceBrushfield StLondon E1
Information line: 020 7375 0441
Nearest Tube Station: Liverpool Street
Tickets: Admission is FREE to this event and includes a Program listing every designer.
Daily Fashion Market: clothes, textiles,and accessories, from 11am to 5pm.

For more information visit the Alternative Arts website here.