Art is not a crime.

Role
Fabric and Fashion Design
Garment Creation
Art Direction

Team
Leah Richardson

Opportunity
Graffiti is often defined as deviant or criminal, yet when used in a controlled setting, it can be a meaningful form of emotion and expression. After being introduced to Argentina’s prolific art scene and learning about the cultural and historical relevance graffiti has across the globe, we set out to create a fashion scene that communicated that art is not a crime, rather, graffiti can present a lens to further understand the nuances of our culture.

Impact
Inspired by Buenos Aires’ plentiful street art, we produced digital illustrations, and combined these custom-printed textiles with bright coloured fabric to create attention-grabbing “walking billboards”. Our vision was to launch six cohesive pieces that celebrated the importance of graffiti. The scene was presented to an audience of over 500 people, and the hand-sewn garments were later auctioned off to benefit the arts education program at Toronto’s Youthdale Treatment Center.