“The Bodyright: Breaking Barriers in Fashion” — An alliance between Spain and North Macedonia to dress up human rights
Skopje / Madrid, October 2025.
Within the framework of the Fashion Weekend Skopje, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Embassy of Spain in Macedonia present “The Bodyright – Own Your Body Online / Be the owner of your body online”, a pioneering project that fuses fashion, sustainability and activism for human rights.
The initiative is a co-creation between Karol Farias, a renowned Spanish-Brazilian international designer based in Spain and founder of the Aóba brand, belonging to the Spanish Association for Sustainability, Innovation and Circularity in Fashion (SICModa), and the renowned Macedonian designer Angela Bikova, creator of Upcycled by Bikova and member of the Macedonian Fashion Association (MFA). Both join their visions to give life to a unique recycled capsule collection, which represents a manifesto of empowerment, diversity and respect for bodies in the digital environment.
Under the coordination of Svetlana Bogova-Jovanoska, president of the Macedonian Fashion Association and Paloma García López, promoter of the Circular Sustainable Fashion Week Madrid and president of the Spanish Association for Sustainability, Innovation and Circularity in Fashion, SIC Modaes, this collaboration is part of the global Bodyright movement of UNFPA, which requires that human bodies receive the same legal protection online that copyright affords to artistic works or trademarks.
“Fashion has always been a mirror of society. With Bodyright, we want it to also be a tool for cultural transformation,” explains Karol Farias, who focuses her work on textile sustainability and inclusion through circular design, always working with very demanding standards in terms of reducing impacts on textile creation.
For her part, Angela Bikova underlines the power of textile upcycling as a vehicle for social change:
“Breaking barriers in fashion means celebrating diversity in all its forms. Each recycled garment has a story and a voice of its own. Beauty can arise from discards, just as strength can be born from vulnerability.”
Breaking barriers: fashion as a universal language
Inspired by the Breaking Rules / Breaking Barriers in Fashion manifesto, the project claims ten essential principles for a more humane and inclusive fashion:
- Fashion is for everyone: regardless of size, race, age or ability.
- Diversity on the catwalks and in advertising.
- Accessible design, with functional and comfortable garments for all bodies.
- Celebration of individuality and breaking stereotypes.
- Fashion as a form of expression and freedom.
Each piece in the Bodyright collection transcends the aesthetic concept to become a symbol of resistance in the face of digital violence, deepfakes and the non-consensual use of intimate images, issues that disproportionately affect women, girls and marginalized communities.
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- Karol Farias
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- Paloma García López
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- Angela Bikova
Culture, sustainability and human rights
The project is possible thanks to the support of the Embassy of Spain in the Republic of North Macedonia, UNFPA, Macedonian Fashion Association, and EPTISA, and promotes intercultural dialogue between both countries, demonstrating that sustainable fashion can also be a form of social activism.
The creative team of Bodyright has prepared in Skopje from October 13 to 19, all the details of the collection that will be presented at the end of October at the Fashion Weekend Skopje. A joint project that combines dressmaking, styling and staging, consolidating a proposal that unites art, recycling and social vindication.
“Each garment is a political statement, a story sewn together with protest, resilience and hope. In this collection, fashion becomes a language of resistance,” says Paloma García López.
About Bodyright
UNFPA’s global #Bodyright movement fights for respect, autonomy and representation of all bodies online. His message is clear:
“Your body has rights. Also on the internet.”
More information in www.unfpa.org/bodyright
TCP https://thecircularproject.com/
SIC MODAES https://sicmoda.org/
Photo by Anidimi
#bodyright
