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• Orsola de Castro was born in Rome in 1966. • She was the daughter of an artist and therefore took part in her first art exhibition when she was 15. • She worked with Yves St Laurent, Chloé and Karl Lagerfeld. It was then that she realized how much fabric was wasted. This is how she started trying to bring recycling and up cycling to big brands.

“ I H AT E FA S T FA S H I O N

B E C A U S E I T I S S O W A S T E F U L "

• In 1997, Orsola de Castro (along with Filippo Ricci) founded “From Somewhere”, which is a brand which recycles clothes to make new ones.

• In 2010, it won the best fashion label at Observer Ethical Awards.

• It has also done collaborations with the swimwear brand, Speedo as well as a brand called Jigsaw.

• She described ‘From Somewhere’ as “Upcycling as a design solution for an environmental problem.”

• They have dressed Livia Firth for the Oscars.

• In September 2006, Orsola and her partner started to introduce a sustainable fashion area into the London Fashion Walk. This was named Estethica.

• She organises this every year for the British Fashion Council.

• Designers within this “Hub” must use ethical practices, organic and recycle material. They are selected because of their designs and ethical credentials.

O R S O L A ' S K E Y P O I N T S I N D E S I G N

Always know what is on offer before you start designing,

Follow your own waste stream No scrap is too small!

Ugly can be beautiful, too Finishing is the key to good design

O R S O L A’ S S T Y L E

Orsola’s style is strong throughout. She uses many colorful piece of fabric with simple patterned. She then uses lots of different fabrics that compliment each other to make new garments. She also uses lots of block colours to create her garments.