8 March is International Women’s Day – an opportunity to celebrate women's achievement, raise awareness against bias, and take action for equality.

At V&A Dundee we are fortunate enough to work with incredible female designers, creators and thought leaders every day, so it seemed only right to give a shout out to the people who inspire us.

Here are just some of the women who #ChooseToChallenge and are creating change in the design world and beyond.

Briana Pegado

Briana Pegado FRSA is currently Vice Chair of YWCA Scotland - the Young Women's Movement, a fellow of the Royal Society of Art, and sits on the governing body of the University of York. She has a background in Sustainable Development.

Her work embeds intersectional feminist principles into practical outcomes for the creative sector; and she is also an upcoming guest tutor with V&A Dundee’s Work in Progress project.

In November, Briana joined us for our Design in the Diaspora series to explore the nuanced feelings of identity and celebrate the duality and fusion of culture and heritage. Catch the conversation here.

Amina

Amina MWRC is an award-winning organization which exists to support and empower Muslim and BME women in Scotland; to help them fulfil their aspirations and build an inclusive society.

As well as offering a free helpline and befriending service, the group raises awareness through campaigning and helps to create services to meet the needs of women.

We have been collaborating with Amina MWRC to increase opportunities for Muslim and Minority Ethnic women in Dundee. Members of the group have developed and delivered BME community language tours of the museum's collection, as well as writing for our website.

On 11 March, Amina’s Sabrina Logan will be discussing the collaboration with group members Yan, Faiza, Farzana and Yanyang at the online event In Their Own Words, as part of Dundee Women’s Festival. Sign up here to join us for free and get a taste of what to expect!

Sarah Kwan

Freelance illustrator and DCAD graduate Sarah Kwan’s work spans portraiture, food illustration, design, murals and sign-writing.

Her recent East Meets West series explores the connections between Scottish, British and Chinese culture – including the soon-to-be-iconic Teacake Dim Sum.

Sarah recently joined us on Instagram to share her experience and perspective, and discuss Scottish creatives’ impact on culture. This video will be available on our IGTV soon.

Kindred Clothing

Dundee’s Kindred Clothing takes learners through the key stages of the garment production process while teaching practical fashion photography skills and techniques to present themselves, their stories and their clothes.

Run by Dundee charity Front Lounge, the programme is specifically for young parents – crucially with childcare an integrated part of the project.

We worked with makers from Kindred and London-based Stitch School over a series of workshops in 2020, and a unique hand-sewn and embroidered dress went on display in the museum in November as part of the Sewing Box of the Future exhibition.

Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

As COVID-19 touched every corner of our lives, 2020 saw the birth of Design Emergency – a collaborative Instagram project exploring the role design and creativity can play in responding to the pandemic and building a better future.

Founders Alice Rawsthorn – an award-winning design writer and critic – and Paola Antonelli – Senior Curator of Architecture and Design, and Director of R&D, at MoMA New York – sought to create a resource to connect designers, share ideas and discuss challenges. The result is an ongoing design-driven response to an unprecedented crisis.

Alice visited V&A Dundee to discuss Design as an Attitude, and recently shared more about Design Emergency; while Paola joined our YPC members in conversation about Designing the Future.

Alice's talk will be available on our YouTube channel very soon, so keep an eye out!

Penny Martin

Editor, writer and curator Penny Martin makes it her business to showcase female creativity – not least as Editor-in-Chief of The Gentlewoman, a magazine dedicated to celebrating modern women of style and purpose.

Over a celebrated career in the creative industries, Penny has collaborated with fashion legends such as Alexander McQueen, as well as taking on the job of chair of Fashion Imagery at London College of Fashion, and curatorial roles with The National Women’s Library and The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.

Penny joined the expert panel for our Makers and Manufacturers online event in 2020.

Glasgow Women’s Library

The women of Glasgow are well known as a force to be reckoned with – where better, then, to have the UK’s only accredited museum dedicated to women’s lives, histories and achievements?

Established in 1991, Glasgow Women’s Library now combines a lending library, archive collections and online exhibitions, as well as offering a programme of events. Recent projects have included creative writing competition Bold Types, and Stride with Pride - an LGBTQ+ heritage map of the city.

You can hear GWL co-founder Dr Adele Patrick discussing how design has powered the development of one of Scotland’s most trailblazing cultural resources here.

Salsabil El-awaisi

Edinburgh-based interior designer Salsabil El-awaisi puts her love of innovative design and creativity down to her dual identities (she was born in Hebron and raised in Scotland).

She describes herself as “passionate about creating spaces with personal meaning… which represent you and tell your story,” and this led to her founding design business SE Interiors.

Hear Salsabil’s thoughts on the fusion of culture and heritage when she joined V&A Dundee for a Design in the Diaspora chat.

Florence Adepoju

What do you get if you combine pharmacy, technology and creativity with a passion for beauty, fashion and hip hop? Florence Adepoju has brought all these elements together to found ground-breaking cosmetics brand MDMflow.

A graduate of London College of Fashion, at just 22 Florence set up her business – having identified something missing in the luxury cosmetic market. MDMflow is a critically acclaimed beauty and lifestyle brand, inspired by mid 90s to early 2000s hip hop culture that, in Florence’s words, aims to authentically resonate with the views, ethics and lifestyle of young people.

Mary Quant

No list of incredible women in design would be complete without the incomparable Mary Quant.

Fashion icon, rebel and revolutionary – Mary has been breaking down barriers for women in the creative industries since the 1950s and her legacy endures to this day.If you missed our major Quant retrospective, you can catch some of the highlights here.

Who would you celebrate this #IWD2021?

Join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and tell us about the incredible women who inspire you.