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BoF to Launch Salons at VOICES in Partnership With QIC Global Real Estate

Today, BoF and VOICES principal partner QIC Global Real Estate are launching new, intimate salon-style conversations at the annual gathering.
BoF VOICES 2016, in partnership with QIC Global Real Estate | Photo: Getty
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  • BoF Team
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LONDON, United Kingdom — When BoF first launched VOICES as a web-based discussion platform back in 2015, one of our main goals was to spark global conversations around key issues facing the fashion industry. We also staged physical events, including a live discussion with Stella McCartney on sustainability and a sneak peek screening of the award-winning film The True Cost, which exposed glaring ethical failures along fashion's value chain in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster.

These live discussions eventually grew into VOICES, BoF's annual gathering for big thinkers, which took place for the first time last year, attracting important attendees and speakers from inside and outside the fashion industry including John Galliano, Mario Testino and Gucci chief Marco Bizzarri.

One of the lasting outputs of the inaugural edition of VOICES has been the open industry conversation about the unacceptable abuse of models, sparked by an impassioned talk by casting director James Scully. This resulted in an important step towards protecting models earlier this year in the form of a charter spearheaded by Scully — in an unusual demonstration of industry unity, it was signed by both Kering and LVMH.

Now, VOICES is evolving again. At last year's VOICES gathering, many of our attendees wanted to go even deeper into some of the issues that were raised during a packed schedule of talks — and take advantage of having a brain trust of senior leaders from across the industry to actually work through some of these issues.

Today, BoF is pleased to announce QIC Global Real Estate as our principal partner for VOICES 2017. In addition to supporting the wider event, QIC GRE is partnering with us to create new, intimate salon-style conversations to flesh out actions and solutions on key global and industry issues.

"We’re delighted to continue our support of VOICES for the second year running, which provides an active forum capturing the spirit of the creative communities today," says Stuart Miller, global director of investment management. "It is with great anticipation that we will launch the inaugural VOICES Salons, creating a real-time environment for guests to continue the conversations away from the conference and forecast future possibilities, together as one community."

Among other topics, the VOICES Salons will explore "the circular economy", a subject that will be introduced by Dame Ellen McArthur, one of the world's leading experts in circular economic thinking. They will also dig deeply into the reinvention of retail, following a conversation on the VOICES stage with two retail veterans from both sides of the Atlantic, Sarah Andelmann, creative director of Colette, and Rachel Shechtman, founder and chief executive of STORY. Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, will also host a salon on what fashion can learn from the sharing economy that has made his company one of the most highly valued private companies on the planet.

Other speakers already confirmed for VOICES 2017 include designer Dries Van Noten, editor Carine Roitfeld and designer and cultural commentator Dapper Dan, along with SoulCycle chief executive Melanie Whelan, Beautycon's Moj Mahdara, Glossier founder Emily Weiss and models Karlie Kloss and Natalia Vodianova — as well as 30 more leading experts from the worlds of science, technology, health and wellness, food, film, politics, the arts, philosophy and philanthropy.

VOICES 2017, in partnership with QIC Global Real Estate, will take place between November 29 and December 2 at Soho Farmhouse. To learn more about VOICES, visit our VOICES website and click here to request an invitation to attend.

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