“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.”
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 (24th 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.
Thanks to Trilby Temperley for images
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