Rosario Dawson’s Fashion Rising label launches its Spring/Summer 2015 collection

LONDON — We’re more than used to seeing Rosario Dawson dressed to the nines on the red carpet, but her fashion sensibilities actually run a little deeper. The Hollywood star is in fact the co-founder of Studio One Eighty Nine, a foundation that uses fashion as an agent for social change by creating a platform to showcase the work of Ghananian artisans through e-commerce and an artisan-produced ready-to-wear collection, called Fashion Rising Collection.

Dawson, 35, and co-founder Abrima Erwiah, founded the brand in February 2013 following a trip through Africa with V-day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls inspired by Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues. After travelling to Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda, then on to Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the opening of the City of Joy — a healing and leadership centre for women who have been victims of rape and sexual violence — they were moved to set up their own foundation to help the movement.

Earlier this week, they launched their hand-crafted Spring/Summer 2015 Fashion Rising Collection exclusively on Yoox.com. Featuring unique prints on 100 per cent cotton pieces, the capsule collection is composed of 17 designs, from tops and dresses to accessories and coats, for men and women.

“We were attracted to the incredible talents and beautiful handmade artisan crafts and art. What’s so beautiful about this is that you know each piece, because it is handmade, is a piece of art in itself,” said Dawson. “We consider all the people we work with as artists, and it’s nice to challenge them and say, ‘Hey, this is a material you’ve never worked with before, but try it’.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH