Olivia Rubens

Olivia Rubens is more than a Canadian knitwear brand; it's a revolutionary movement for the independent and underestimated underdogs who relentlessly challenge the status quo. With a fierce determination to celebrate authenticity, Olivia Rubens inspires and empowers its tribe to embrace the unconventional and break free from the chains of conformity. Every collection is infused with stubborn independence, purpose-driven values, and non-conformist attitudes, while fearlessly exploring weird, absurd, and taboo themes season after season. Born from its founder's MA at London College of Fashion, Olivia Rubens has become a trailblazer, igniting a firestorm of creativity and redefining what it means to be an individualist.

Olivia Rubens is a positive knitwear designer who favours collaboration and invests in bio design innovation and fabric research. Her work is a playfully, thought-provoking study on human nature, nurturing impactful conversations about human behaviour with the goal of creating positive impacts for the planet and womxn across the globe. After obtaining a BA in Fashion Design from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2015, Rubens decamped to London in 2018. It was here she would receive an MA in Fashion Design Technology Womenswear from London College of Fashion in 2020. Rubens currently undertakes a fellowship at The Suzanne Rogers Fashion Institute.

Rubens showed her AW20 at Camden Roundhouse during London Fashion Week, and later would show her designs digitally as part of Helsinki Fashion Week in 2020. Rubens has also received mentorship from Fashion Open Studio after winning the Responsible Fashion Award powered by Allianz and the CNMI Award in the International Talent Support 2020 competition. In 2021, the designer staged a workshop with Fashion Open Studio during Fashion Revolution Week. In the same year, at the iD International Emerging Designer Awards, Rubens would take home the Most Sustainable Designer
Award and was a grant recipient in the UAL Creative Business Accelerator. Her main goal is to merge scientific innovations in sustainability with fashion, an endeavour showcased in her most recent collaboration with Post Carbon Lab, launching a photosynthetic collection with Machine-A. This collaboration was carried forward into her SS23 collection, showing in the LONDON show ROOMS with the British Fashion Council in 2022. Her work has been praised by Vogue, WWD, Dazed, SHOWstudio, and more.