Felt rugs, high fashion and food security: three items you rarely – if ever – see mentioned in one sentence: Still, fashion designer Stella Jean is known for mixing the unexpected, so perhaps it’s no surprise she managed to bring them all together in a creative partnership that’s as visually striking as it is economically vital.
“I would start from the collaboration, because it is truly a person-centric project,” says Stella, whose eclectic designs have been worn by the likes of Beyoncé, Zendaya and Julia Roberts. “We work 85 percent with women, because they are the custodians of these traditions, most of which are absolutely at risk of extinction.”
The traditions she’s speaking of here are ancient felt patterns of Kyrgyzstan. And the women who guard this cultural treasure are the women of Topchu, an artisan collective in the village of Barskoon, at the foot of the majestic Tien Shan Mountains.
“We started from Shyrdak, these huge 3-by-4-metre carpets that cover the inside of yurts, also for heating purposes. The women had never thought that such a work could become fashionable, or in any case, become something simpler.”
Concretely, she worked with the women to take the centuries-old patterns that adorn felt rugs –“the motifs, the colors and everything”– and transfer them onto cotton fabric that can be used to make clothes.
“We transformed it into a wearable, accessible product for the global market,” she says.
A collection she produced with the fabric made it all the way to Milan Fashion Week. But more importantly, it has created a new market and income stream for the artisans of Barskoon, an area where employment opportunities are limited and value chains underdeveloped, which is often the case in mountain communities.
“With the extra money, we pay for the children’s education and improve our families' food security,” said Zhamilya Mambetkulova, an embroiderer in the Topchu collective, in an earlier interview. They can spend more on various foods at the market, plus, some of the women used their earnings to expand their vegetable gardens.
Fashion has significant potential to provide opportunities for decent work around the world and, by extension, reduce poverty and hunger, Stella thinks – provided the business model is fair.
To this end, she founded the sustainable development platform Laboratorio delle Nazioni through which she builds creative collaborations with artisans from around the world based on mutual exchange.
Together, they study how to produce fabrics or accessories that combine local craftsmanship with classic Italian design and access new markets.
Born to an Italian mother and Haitian father, Stella’s designs celebrate multiculturalism. But she’s always been careful not to avoid cultural appropriation, and companies should, too.
Stella's collaboration with Topchu helped launch Fashion for Fragile Ecosystems. Implemented by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat at FAO, this initiative bridges the gap between traditional design and contemporary fashion, promoting sustainable practices and empowering rural communities. As a result, Stella was appointed as a Mountain Partnership Goodwill Ambassador.
“Often, collaborating with low-income countries means sending them our work or making them realize our concepts. This new type of partnership changes everything,” she says. “Cultural gaffes are totally preventable.”
“Rather than using these areas of the world as mood boards, we can launch new collections and aesthetics in a participatory way.”
