Leeds School of Arts

LSA Festival Student Stories: Ellen Price / Fashion

On one hand I was about to enter my final year studying fashion, a subject I love and am passionate about. On the other hand I was volunteering in Holbeck for a local charity that support women who are caught in life crippling addictions, many who have turned to street prostitution to support their habit.
Sketch of the clothing created by student, Ellen Price

The concept for this collection came to me when I was looking at all the different parts of my life that were seemingly very separate. On one hand I was about to enter my final year studying fashion, a subject I love and am passionate about. On the other hand I was volunteering in Holbeck for a local charity that support women who are caught in life crippling addictions, many who have turned to street prostitution to support their habit. As well as volunteering in Holbeck I was also living there, right on the edge of the managed approach. I moved to Holbeck to become part of the community; to live in a place where I could invest in people and walk life alongside them in both the joys and the struggles. The different segments of my life seemed separate, like they didn’t fit together. How could support work and fashion, work together? How could living in one of Leeds’ most deprived areas work alongside the glitz and glamour that fashion promotes? I decided to see how I could use my love of fashion to influence my other passions for good. How could I use my fashion practice to care for people like the ladies I support, and hopefully through them to ultimately influence the area that I live in?

Read more about Ellen's story on the Leeds School of Arts Festival Site…

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