Fairly Fashionable?

 

 

“Good designers don't just consider the aesthetics of an object, but how that object comes to be - right down to the growth and manufacture of it.”

Fashion Revolution

 

The Event: Fairly Fashionable

Fairly Fashionable? challenge commenced on Fashion Revolution Day, April 24th, the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory disaster in Dhaka Bangladesh, where 1133 lives were lost (with many hundreds more injured) -- with devastating long-lasting effects on families and friends.

Designers were challenged to create a garment or fashion accessory (jewellery, head piece, bag etc.), in 14 days by incorporating in their design a piece of original Fair Trade fabric (supplied) originating from countries including India, Peru, Cambodia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Fairly Fashionable? culminated with a public fashion show on the eve of World Fair Trade Day on May 9th at MANY 6160, Fremantle’s premier new fashion quarter in the old Myer building.

A public exhibition of designed work was display at MANY 6160 from World Fair Trade Day, May 10th-May 18th, 2014.

 

 

 

The Experience:



The Fashion Degree at Curtin places a value on sustainability, teaching us about the environmental and humanitarian impacts which the fashion industry has on the world. Because of this and through my personal enthusiasm in the area, I was keen to become involved.

The Fairly Fashionable? Design Challenge firstly asked for an expression of interest where designers explained their brand or personal values. On Fashion Revolution Day (24^th of April), we were all invited to MANY 6160 to come together and debrief on the project. While we were there, each designer chose a hessian bag that contained a piece of fair trade fabric from different origins, varying types of material and of different sizes, shapes, colour and textures. It was our challenge to create an outfit, accessory or fashion component within 14 days incorporating the fabric we had received. 

One of the objectives of the challenge was to show that fair trade and eco design can be contemporary and interesting so it was important for the designers to demonstrate new ideas and innovative fashion design within their pieces. Even though we were able to use additional elements for our design, we were asked to think sustainably with what we used and how we used it.

My Outfit:

For my project, I received a piece of fair trade fabric from Anjel Ms which was a contrasting black and red Cotton tie dye fabric, much of which still supported ties used in the dying process. With this fabric I was I was inspired to create a menswear design featuring the unfinished, as well as the finished, fabric as a way of conveying the story behind the material. My outfit includes pants which contain no inner or outer leg seam to provide added comfort for the wearer. I also recycled leather off cuts and upcycled cotton for my design as well as investigating the idea of ‘zero waste pattern making’ by using one piece of cloth which was tucked and cut and the pieces reoriented to form a shape for the body.

          

It was a great idea to put a short, 2 week time frame on the challenge to make the designers, as well as the audience, consider the idea of ‘fast fashion’ and the pressure which some people are put under to produce products for an extremely quick turn over. The whole experience was fantastic, it was great to see updates on how the other designers were going and seeing the ideas they came up with at the end of it all. It was also fantastic to see so many people attend the runway event to support the designers and the cause and create a wider understanding of the importance of fair trade in the fashion industry.

 

 Cordelia




Thanks to Trilby Temperley for images

'A Life in Wool' at the Wagin Woolorama Fashion Parade

 

 

 

 

 

10 Parades, 2 days. What an experience.

Photos by Anita Jean Photography

Beyond the Bale feature

Beyond the Bale issue 58, March 2014. Check out the online version HERE

A Life in Wool

Wool

Shearing Shed

Lifestyle

The air is full of dust, suffocating heat glaring from the land and the structures built within. The dogs bark and the men shout along with the regular buzz of engine and clatter of sheep. The space is dotted with wool, a pungent smell of lanoline and ammonia sweep the floors. The workers are a flight of activity, movements repetitive and precise, amidst the disarray of tin, machine, pipe and wood.

The shearing shed stands as an iconic representation of Australia, a building in which poems have been inspired, stories shared and life shown at its most raw; where stress is high, work is hard and anything can happen. The shearing shed is the heart of the Australian sheep farm, whatever the heart may be enduring.

My work is an encapsulation of the character of the shearing shed in an expression of the workmanship, ideologies, lifestyle and culture of the Australian sheep farm. The garments are inspired by the architecture, the work clothes and the human value of the shed to create a level of sensibility toward and celebration of culture of the Australian wool producer.

Fit, Form and Function; [And long hot days...]

[And long, hot days recurrent]

“And long, hot days recurrent”; bringing the importance of the Australian wool industry back to the masses….

“And long, hot days recurrent” is the 6^th line of the 4^th stanza of the poem Shearers by Australian poet Henry Lawson. It talks about the journey of shears as a person themselves; but also shows the essence of the shed in which they spend their lives. “and long, hot days…” relates to the lifestyle of anyone who works with sheep while the word “…recurrent” links back to a simple time when the Australian Wool industry was the most important sector of the country. 

In a nation that ‘rides on the sheep’s back’, the shearing shed is an iconic representation of Australia’s journey ‘from the humbleness of the pioneer to the grandeur of the wealthy grazier’ (Sowden, 7). It represents the ideologies, the workmanship and the vigour that is the Australian sheep man. The sheep shed is a place for tending to sheep but also a place for people. It is from this one building where poems have been inspired, stories shared and a lifestyle shown at its most raw; where stress is high, work is hard and anything can happen. For me it is the heart of the farm- whatever that heart may be enduring.

What is fantastic about the shearing shed is that while the processes and architecture may have changed, the basic characteristics have not. I am inspired by the stories, poems, memories and legends of the wool shed from its humble beginnings to the present day, as a true representation of Australia.

I have chosen to look at the sheep shed from an overall perspective, although researching each area specifically in the progression. This is so I would be able to represent what the shed means to the individual workers, as well as what it means, or should mean, to the nation.

The Garments

- Structured, yet natural in form to relate to the hand crafted sheds

- Organic forms/ fabric and fibre is at one with the person; flowing around the body, seeing the body through the fabric etc

- An importance on wool specifically such as hand-made felt; relating to how important wool is to a sheep farmer.

- Inspired by the forms of the architecture of the sheep shed and the way it promotes the movement of air for heat control

- Subverting the suit in design, but also taking some points from the garments worn by shearers today and traditionally