Slow Fashion Festival

article and interview by Leah Bury

photography by Jacob Gonzales @colorsxj / Shunya Carroll @shunyacarroll

Meet Slow Fashion Festival. The organization, which was merely an idea in the summer of 2022, has already blossomed into a beautiful community with multiple 3-day festivals, fashion shows, and even a part on the SXSW lineup under its belt. This is much to the joy and gratitude of its four founders, who started Slow Fashion Festival with the primary hope of building more awareness and education around the slow fashion movement.

Meet The Founders

Leah Bury

@leah.creative is a multi-form creative and curator based in Austin, Texas. Since beginning in 2020, she has curated several art galleries and zines with hundreds of local artists. She also loves digital art, photography,

and writing.

Reza Cristian

(She/Her) is founder and editor-in-chief of SUSTAIN the mag, an online media platform where eco-conscious warriors cultivate a healthy, planet-friendly lifestyle. SUSTAIN has hosted multiple virtual and IRL community driven events as well as holding space in the “Slow Media” movement.

Courtney Keville

aka The Bead Bitch, is a real life Austinite who has been beading since she was six years old. Beading everything from jewelry, patches, clothing, canvas, dioramas and more! After fifteen years she decided to create Mutiny Market, a love letter to the artistic community and her hometown.

Mikaela Friedman

a multidisciplinary artist based in Austin, Texas and the co-founder of the slow fashion boutique Shop Slow. She’s known for her vibrant colors & hand-painted cowboy boots, famously worn by Texas psychedelic band Khruangbin. In Mikaela’s Cherrywood studio, everything is reused and recycled.

What inspired you to co-found the Slow Fashion Festival, and how did your individual backgrounds and passions contribute to its inception?

Leah: I had been curating pop up art galleries for a few years, while also growing my own interest and commitment to slow fashion in the background. One day, I had an idea for a sort of event centered around slow fashion that wasn’t just one thing — a runway show, a panel, a market — but all of those things and more. I wanted to create an event where all of the players that must play a role in making slow fashion more of the norm could come together and find new ways to synergize and support one another. That started with my own team. I knew Slow Fashion Festival was not something I could build on my own (nor did I want to), so I reached out to Reza, Courtney, and Mikaela — all people I’d been watching from afar as they did amazing work in the community, but who I had not yet worked with or gotten to know super well — and posed the idea to them. Thankfully, they were on board and it’s been so wonderful having such a solid team of folks to build this thing with that not only really care, but also bring such a diversity of experience, perspectives, and talents! And we’ve all been really honored and inspired by how the community has rallied around the fest.

Reza, with your background in sustainable media and creating inclusive spaces, how does SUSTAIN THE MAG’s ethos align with the goals of the Slow Fashion Festival?

Reza: SUSTAIN THE MAG is all about creating and sharing stories with intent and slow media in mind and I feel we do that same with Slow Fashion Festival. We like to create a fun and educational space with our panel portion of the festival, bringing in local changemakers who are creating real change in their own communities and allowing them to share their voices.

Courtney, as someone deeply rooted in the artistic community and small business support, how does Mutiny Market complement the mission of the Slow Fashion Festival?

Courtney: We aim to focus on artists that create in an out of the box mindset. Our emphasis on handmade items goes hand in hand with SFF’s commitment to promoting sustainable and ethical practices. By showcasing artists who prioritize craftsmanship and sustainability, Mutiny Market actively contributes to the Slow Fashion movement, providing a platform for creators who share these values.

Mikaela, with your focus on sustainability and accessibility in fashion, how do you translate these values into the products and experiences you offer at the festival?

Mikaela: We believe Slow Fashion, at its core, is about the community. Our goal is always focused on creating opportunities for small businesses and local creatives through collaboration. We want everyone to feel welcomed and engaged with our mission. We can do that by requiring designers to include a diverse group of models, giving priority to small businesses run by women & POC, and educating our audience on topics outside of their own communities. Access is easy to those who care for the inclusion of all.

Reza, as an advocate for sustainability, how do you navigate the tension between promoting conscious consumerism and acknowledging that systemic change is also necessary to address the root causes of environmental degradation?

Reza: I think both are definitely necessary when it comes to living a sustainable lifestyle and although people tend to lean more on conscious consumerism since it can seem more easy. I try to make larger political landscape conversations easy and accessible such as voting in local elections, getting involved in grassroots & non-profit groups by volunteering or donating and even just getting an understanding on how we can make real change by boycotting and divesting from bigger corporations which we are seeing work.

How do you envision the future of the Slow Fashion Festival? Are there any long-term goals or dreams you hope to achieve with the festival?

Mikaela: I’d love to see the fest create some kind of student space for emerging designers to use as a launch pad for their brand. We would teach skills such as photoshop for artists, inventory planning, e-commerce, and those “non-glamorous” skills that are so important in creating a strong brand.

Leah: While Austin will always be the home and headquarter of Slow Fashion Festival, we are excited at the prospects of expanding beyond Austin and finding ways to create networks and relationships between Austin designers and those from other cities and even countries. We got to go to LA to produce a fashion show as part of the Hollywood Climate Summit this past summer, and we brought two Austin designers with us. It was so awesome to so get to know some LA slow fashion designers while also having the chance to bring our local favorites to a new city and expose them to potential opportunities there.

Courtney, as a native Austinite, how do you see the Slow Fashion Festival contributing to the cultural identity and creative energy of the city?

Courtney: Austin has always been a hub for innovation and a unique blend of artistic expression. Slow Fashion Festival provides the opportunity to educate and inspire an appreciation for handmade craftsmanship and ethical practices, which many Austinites hold dear.

More local businesses are closing and it’s upsetting to witness stores like Hermes take their place on South Congress. SFF brings a resurgence of care, quality, and artistry within the creative community. It inspires people to think about the impact of industry, make changes to their shopping habits and support makers who create art that contributes to a healthier ecosystem. It’s exciting to be part of something that embodies the Old Austin. For example, what Mikaela and Rebecca have done with Shop Slow is a perfect example of the direction the city should be going in. It not only is a workshop for their business that revolves around sustainability, but a showroom for local designers, giving the opportunity to educate anyone that comes through their door.

Leah, as a curator and creative, how do you incorporate elements of art and community into the Slow Fashion Festival experience?

Leah: I think one of the main points of friction, and opportunity, when it comes to fashion is more consumer education and better storytelling. And I don’t know who is better at telling complex stories and moving people emotionally than artists! My background has been curating pop up art galleries around a specific theme, such as the body, nature, and love. I wanted to create a space for that within the festival as well, which is why each year we have a gallery wall featuring work from artists that somehow touches on the theme of slow fashion. In addition, I’m a photographer myself, so I really wanted to make sure that we made photography a central part of the festival experience. For each event that we’ve done, we incorporate a pop up photoshoot experience, where models in the slow fashion designs can pose, and anyone with a camera is invited to try their hand at shooting the looks. At each event we have photographers showing up eager to shoot and I love that we can give them plenty of opportunities to do so, while also giving the designers a chance to walk away with a lot of varied photographs of their clothing. These photos also end up being a core part of the Slow Fashion Zine.

Leah, how do you see the zine complementing the other components of the Slow Fashion Festival, such as the runway shows, workshops, and marketplace?

In addition to curating pop up art galleries, I’ve also really fallen in love with creating zines, which are basically little magazines you can create for and about whatever you want. I wanted to incorporate a zine into Slow Fashion Festival because I understand that in order to truly connect with people and hopefully drive inspiration and change, you need to meet them at multiple touchpoints. I also am always looking for ways to extend the shelf life of the impact of an event, to keep it in people’s brains longer and to continue to highlight all the amazing folks involved. My hopes for the Slow Fashion Zine was to create a tangible, physical memento of Slow Fashion Festival that can be placed upon a coffee shop for curious friends to peruse and learn more about slow fashion, something that can be passed along and shared and enjoyed indefinitely. Plus, walking into our Spring ‘23 Fashion Show, and seeing each person in their seats perusing the first Slow Fashion Zine while waiting for the show to start was such a memorable moment for me!

Mikaela, you are a co-founder of new boutique called Shop Slow. Could you tell us more about the inspiration behind starting this boutique and what sets it apart from other fashion stores in Austin?

Mikaela: The concept of Shop Slow started when we saw a need for a creative, sustainable space that catered to the unique landscape of Austin’s art scene. After visiting LA and attending the HCS, thanks to SFF, Rebecca Wright (Psychic Outlaw, Founder) and I started dreaming up how we can become a part of the brick and mortar scene. Additionally, we were looking for a new studio space for Psychic Outlaw and after looking for months and finding nothing we stumbled upon a Craigslist add that was perfect for our space! This was a perfect match for our vision; studio space in the back and a retail space in the front. Because of this unique layout, we can offer clients a very transparent look into how their clothes are made. We can give consumers a peek behind the curtain and let them into an otherwise inaccessible facet of fashion. We allow customers to “shop the studio” meaning they can look through our materials, we’ll take their measurements, and make them something custom to fit their bodies. We believe through giving autonomy back to the consumer, we can spark a dialogue surrounding our consumption and drive home the issues surrounding fast fashion.

Mikaela, How does your experience with Shop Slow inform your role within the Slow Fashion Festival, and vice versa? How do these two endeavors complement each other?

Mikaela: Working in slow fashion has allowed me a unique look into what happens behind the scenes of designing, sourcing, e-commerce, production, etc. as well as the apparent, and at times, more glamorous side of the industry such as photo-shoots, campaigns, PR, etc. I’ve been lucky to learn so much about the industry and how each level plays an important role in the whole. This insight makes me feel a more direct connection to the designers and their work. I feel I can see past the design and look more thoroughly into their process, I feel more informed to ask big questions and ultimately, can spot a designer who is ready to push themselves toward their goals! Slow Fashion Festival has also pushed me to create more space for my personal passions such as event planning and project management which has been monumental in building the community here at Shop Slow! Collaboration seems to be a key theme among your respective endeavors, whether it’s curating art galleries, publishing sustainable media, hosting markets, or creating custom clothing. How do you leverage collaboration to strengthen the impact of the Slow Fashion Festival?

Mikaela: At its core, the slow fashion movement is nothing without the community. A majority of the community has their hands in something creative; it feels natural that collaboration would happen throughout the Slow Fashion Festival l. Being a part of the movement is all about what you can bring to the table! We don’t have all the answers as individuals however we can collaborate together to solve the big issues.

Courtney: Without collaboration, our reach wouldn’t be as impactful. Each of us have an expanding network of supporters, encouraging/being a catalyst for an exchange of ideas and practices.