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Olympic medallist Imogen Grant wears gown made of recycled rowing kit designed by Aishvarya Verma

Person in a dress looking at camera.
  • Written byUna Lote Andzane
  • Published date 29 January 2024
Person in a dress looking at camera.
Imogen during final fitting. Image by Aishvarya Verma.

London College of Fashion (LCF), UAL graduate Aishvarya Verma, MA Innovative Fashion Production, has designed a gown for Olympic Gold Medallist rower Imogen Grant crafted entirely from recycled rowing kit.

The BBC Green Sport Awards is an annual event that celebrates athletes who use their platform to promote sustainability in the world of sports. Imogen Grant, Athlete of the Year 2024, decided to attend the awards ceremony wearing a gown made from old rowing kit she had worn in past competitions.

Collage of photos of materials being draped on manneuqin.
Design process. Image by Aishvarya Verma.

To commission the red-carpet look, the BBC Sports team turned to the MA Innovative Fashion Production course at LCF. Course Leader, Ella Sharp-Mitchell, believes this is because the course is specifically aimed at investigating new ways of making products.

It can be anything from agriculture and regenerative materials, such as wool, right through to the digitalisation of product creation and the supply chain.

— Ella Sharp-Mitchell, Course Leader, MA Innovative Fashion Production
3D illustration of person wearing dress.
Design process. Image by Aishvarya Verma.

The team chose recent course graduate Aishvarya Verma to create the look because of her extensive experience in working with athletic fabrics. While she had already made performance wear for athletes in various Asian and international sports championships, this was her first time making an evening gown.

Aishvarya recounts her reaction to the project in three words: “It’s the BBC - big, sustainability - challenging, old rowing kit and the red carpet - tough,” she laughs.

The dress took two and a half months to make, but Aishvarya was proud to be designing for a good cause. As this was Imogen’s first-ever custom-made dress, it was especially important for Aishvarya to highlight the athlete’s passion for sustainability.

Images of a dress.
Design process. Image by Aishvarya Verma.

The creative process started by facing the biggest constraint: the limited colour palette of the kit which was not red-carpet friendly. Another challenge was avoiding any logos. The goal was to combine five different types of fabric without making it look like patchwork. To avoid wasting any materials, the design team used digital design tools.

This is where my course education helped a lot - digitally realising what we can do best with the kits.

— Aishvarya Verma, MA Innovative Fashion Production

When asked about what the biggest challenge was, Aishvarya ponders for a bit and then bursts out laughing: taking apart the kits. The process was so tedious, she can’t believe it escaped her mind even for a split second.

Considering that this ambitious project came to life in such a short time, Aishvarya believes it is possible to replicate it on a wider scale. “If three people can do this, the industry can definitely think bigger on the same line,” she says.

Ella Sharp-Mitchell does not think that the dress will suddenly change the minds of the public, but believes it could set a great example for the industry. The design could be easily replicated using old unitards of any kind, shape, or colour.

If brands put money behind things like dissolvable thread technology, young aspiring athletes could access proper training kits more easily. They need to consider manufacturing as a really thrilling field - some of the most exciting work and innovation is happening in product development, not necessarily design.

— Ella Sharp-Mitchell, Course Leader, MA Innovative Fashion Production

When Aishvarya saw Imogen wearing the dress on the red carpet for the first time, she felt proud to have contributed to making this innovation come to life. “Going beyond the potential and discovering something that you already know, but giving it a new shape is something very personal to me,” she reflects.

Blue dress on a mannequin
Image by Aishvarya Verma.

While this project might seem ambitious for many, Ella explains that this is what MA Innovative Fashion Production course students do every day. “All the things that design students think of - our students make work from a manufacturing perspective,” she says.

Ella believes that it is important to continue experimenting as a member of staff and be open to innovation. “Every year I think, oh, ‘I can't be stretched anymore,’ but then our students come up with something new once again,” the Course Leader says.