Slow-fashion enthusiasts Ensemble Studios will host a series of markets and workshops this weekend, featuring slow-designer clothes and tips and tricks to living more sustainably.

Ensemble Studios is bringing a Slow Fashion Weekend to Piccadilly beginning this Saturday, jam-packed with ethical markets and mending workshops.

Co-founders of retail store Ensemble Studios, Bing Rowland, Emma Thomson and Beccy Bromilow, have organised an activity-filled weekend with hopes to promote a slower, more sustainable lifestyle.

Ensemble’s stockists range from “many different local artists and makers to really curated international, ethical brands”, Bing says. In addition to its retail offering, Ensemble also runs workshops and markets.

The Ensemble team has a history in slow fashion, launching SLOW Fashion Festival in 2017, which eventually became part of the now-defunct Adelaide and Vogue Fashion Festivals.

After a significant break, Bing and her collaborators are bringing the initiative in the form of Slow Fashion Weekend, which kicks of this Saturday with the Stories By markets.

Ensemble Studios on the left, next to coffee shop Brid, in Piccadilly

Stories By will be predominately one-off, secondhand or vintage clothing pieces.

“Stories By was created to give the opportunity for those pieces that don’t have a home, to find one with a lucky customer,” Bing says.

“Often, [designers] work on products and build prototypes of things or samples that maybe never make the actual collection but you are still left with beautiful products.

“Anyone that needs to find new homes for their pieces could be a part of that event.

“There isn’t really anything like that in Adelaide at the moment.”

Sunday’s event is the ‘M E N D Sewing Circle’, which will teach people basic sewing skills to fix and prolong their garments.

Bing says this event will give people practical knowledge in order to live a slower, more sustainable lifestyle, while learning in a relaxed and fun environment.

“If you just have those basic skills, you can feel confident that if there is a hole in your garment, you can mend it,” Bing says.

“That’s what we want to talk about – you don’t have to go to sewing school to learn how to prolong the life of a garment.”

“When you sit down and… start mending, it does turn into just a group of great people sewing and laughing and sharing stories.”

A mender at work

The overall goal for Ensemble’s Slow Fashion Weekend is to engage a like-minded community and allow people to gain practical skills.

Bing hopes to facilitate conversations around slow living, and slow fashion in particular.

“I want to reignite that in people. There is such an exciting element to discovering secondhand clothing,” she says.

“What you’re looking for to add to your wardrobe has already been made and it might have been made a long time ago.

The overall message is simple: “cherish what you have”.

“If you do really love something, learn how to mend it so you can have it for as long as you love it,” she says.

“If you don’t love something, there is a whole market of people that will love it and to give it a second life.”

Slow Fashion Weekend will take place at Ensemble Studios located at 176 Piccadilly Road, Piccadilly.

Follow Ensemble Studios on Instagram for more information.