Fashion added to GWS agenda
The link between wellness and fashion will be a major topic at 2018 Global Wellness Summit and this will be celebrated in the event's first runway show.
The wellness fashion runway is a collaboration between BuDhaGirl, a fashion/lifestyle brand focusing on mindful glamour, Louie Schwartzberg’s Moving Art, La Forma, an athleisure garment maker with wellness values at its core, and the summit’s own creative team.
“Fashion holds a unique place in our culture—and has the power to motivate and inspire change. Add to that the fact that society as a whole is waking up to the idea that absolutely everything we do affects our health and wellness, and the impact fashion can have on our lives starts to crystallize,” said Jessica Jesse, founder of BuDhaGirl.
“At an extremely basic level that means everything we wear—and how we wear it—can affect not only our physical wellbeing but also our mental wellness.”
In January, American Vogue featured actress Lupita Nyong’o performing yoga on a stand-up paddle, and the word wellness emblazoned in large print, on the cover.
Nancy Davis, GWS chief creative officer and executive director, said this was a pivotal moment, highlighting a topic discussed by the summit in 2017.
“2018 started out with a bang for the partnership of wellness and fashion,” she said.
“The new intersections between fashion and wellness were already being discussed by wellness industry leaders prior to that pivotal moment.
“During Dr Andrew Weil’s impassioned keynote at the 2017 Summit, you could practically see the light bulbs going off over delegates’ heads as Weil touted fashion as one of the most powerful drivers of human behaviour—encouraging the audience to ‘make wellness fashionable’.
“Our goal is to create an experience that underscores how important and integral each industry is to the other – in an inspiring, creative way that is sure to delight GWS delegates.”
The 12th-annual summit will take place October 6-8 at Technogym Village in Cesena, Italy and the fashion show will be held on October 7. This year, the theme is “Shaping the Business of Wellness”.