Captured on 19.04.2024
Professor Lyubomir Stoykov is a Bulgarian journalist, culturologist, media expert, PR manager and fashion analyst. He is a professor at the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, at the University of National and World Economy - Faculty of "Infrastructure Economics" and at the National Academy of Arts - Faculty of Applied Arts. Guest lecturer at Plovdiv University "Paisiy Hilendarski" - Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences. He also taught at the New Bulgarian University - Department of Music and Performing Arts. Doctor of Science. Doctor of Journalism. At Sofia Fashion Week 2024, BGNES talks to the eminent fashion and image expert about ethical fashion. Here is what Professor Stoykov told a BGNES reporter:
It is with great pleasure that I say hello to Professor Stoykov and immediately ask him what is ethical fashion for you?
Ethical fashion for me is a set of values, salvation, attitude, beauty, natural, thought of nature, thought of the future, but above all else, ethical fashion, maybe real fashion, that's my definition.
How much would new fabrics and a new attitude towards the cyclicality of fashion help make the world a better place?
Ethical fashion is not only related to materials, textiles, production, it requires a holistic approach. For example, ethical fashion is that fashion that interprets as motifs, plants, animals, this is a very interesting eco-aesthetic aspect to ethical fashion, to sustainable fashion, but something that is really extremely important, current, is precisely the way they are made the materials, the way nature is spared, the earth, the water, the air, the so-called recycled material is of great importance here. By the way, I always advise my fashion design students to look to the past! To remember how Martin Marzella made a real boom with his... collection of untangled military socks in an abandoned NATO warehouse. Showed a fantastic collection but many years ago. Bulgaria also has a modest contribution from the 80s, when Vasko Vasilev, designer of Studio V2 found and also used leftover fabrics in some warehouse, parachutes and so on. But today there are very good, very... high, very efficient technologies that enable smart, intelligent reproduction of matter. One of my grantees, for example, a well-known designer of ours who works in Vienna, she had made a collection, collecting from car graveyards, "airbags" from crashed cars.
In general, ethical fashion requires, implies not just a mechanical declaration: here I work with recycled materials, or here, I use paints and chemicals that do not harm nature. Our very strong example in this regard is Axel Hardy, who has been dyeing her clothes with natural dyes for a long time. Many examples can be given including and not only technological and production interpretation. Not only with such fabrics, but with clever design solutions at the previous world championship, for example, one of the hits was precisely teams made from recycled plastic bottles! There are countless examples in this regard, but I want to encourage the big brands, the biggest ones who make the so-called "fast fashion", who very consistently but responsibly and strategically plan their production, so that, if I'm not mistaken, by 2030- that year or 2032, they will 100% go to this sustainability in the production of clothing of additions, of various ornaments.
Here you immediately give me a reason to ask you - does the European Commission in general on politics at the continental level, and at the world level, have the will or... at least some movement, at least a whiff, for this to happen, that is, there is, not exactly pressure, but to somehow have a legislative framework that would "push" fashion production in exactly this direction, i.e. to still have some responsibility towards nature, not just to claim that we are green "green labels", but from the production itself through people's work, through the opening of new jobs, through the creation of new materials, through fantasies... To what extent do you think politics would help this happen?
Your question is very accurate, very relevant! There is an answer, my short answer is: industrial regulation, fashion regulation! Already for the second or third year, even I was a co-organizer of such a seminar, the main, large exhibitors, including those exhibiting clothing, shoes, and various accessories, already apply criteria for admitting to participation only those manufacturers, only those brands and labels that meet these criteria. And believe me, they are very serious! And they are related to the circular economy, to sustainable fashion in the most precise quotas - what is permissible and what is not permissible.
What is Sofia Fashion Week for you and what would you like?
If I'm not mistaken - this is the 12th edition of Sofia Fashion Week. I have the honor and the pleasure to be the first PR manager of 5 or 6 seasons and I am very glad that this idea has become flesh, blood - it has developed, and in fact it is our most serious appearance, which in many respects is not inferior to others fashion weeks is Europe. Of course, I have a recommendation, but I will tell them in the next interview! /BGNES