Fashion Footprints: Sustainable Approaches

I thought I would add a post about what some of the graduates from MA Fashion and the Environment have organised with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Fashion Footprints: Sustainable Approaches.

The exhibition is set against the backdrop of Haldon Forest Park, Devon and explores the overlapping of fashion and textiles with humankind and the environment.

The exhibition is being staged for four months and includes free events aiming to educate the public about the issues within a garment's lifecycle, from dying to washing. An Eco-fashion show was held within hte forest on the evening of Sunday 15th August. For the hardened eco-fashionistas out there, there are plently of in depth workshops (inc. indigo dying, vegetable dying, upcycling) as well as a conference including presentation from Orsola de Castro, Otto von Busch and William Lana.

We would like to show our appreciation and say 'well done'. We hope to visit soon.

Follow this link to see the programme:
www.ccanw.co.uk/assets/files/CCANW_Aug10-Feb11.pdf

Some information about us...

As we have all been quite busy and distracted from our group blog, I thought it best to use this blog as a directory to find out about our projects individually. Please see below and links to our own independent websites and blogs:

Julia Roebuck - http://upcycle-fashion.blogspot.com

Saida Bruce - http://adiaryfromsaida.blogspot.com/

Sara Pleavin - http://the-geographies-of-footwear.blogspot.com/

Zoe Fletcher - http://www.zoegracefletcher.com/

Kate Wakeling - http://tangledthreadsweweave.blogspot.com/

Katie Ledger - http://www.shedmeclothes.com/

Beth, Kate, Saida and Zoe's blog about their Sri Lanka trip Summer 2010 - http://connectsrilanka.blogspot.com/

Camden Green Fair 2010

The popular fashion area at Camden Green Fair returned this year organised by us the Fashion and the Environment MA students from the London College of Fashion.

The area consisted of drop-in craft workshops where people learnt new creative skills including Knitting, Crochet, Quilting, and Customising.

The new feature this year included the SWAP SHOP. We saw people enjoy the new way to shop. Swap! As you can seee from the photos, this was a buzzing area, that proves you can find 'new to you' clothes you will love, without actually having to go out and buy them brand new from the high street.

We had a Beths cakes stall which proved to be a massive success raising money for the fair but also for her mamouth bike ride to Paris, raising funds for the Environmental Justice Foundation. Along with Aimans lemonade stall raising money for an Indian charity.

And finally… the ethical catwalk show which exhibited Annie Greenabelle, Nancy Dee, Monkee Genes, Terra Plana and Komodo and one of our own Julia Roebuck.

Visit to Kew’s Economic Botany Collection 29th of January 2010

The morning was spent wandering around the beautiful gardens, glasshouses and current exhibitions at Kew, followed by an afternoon tour of Kew’s Economic Botany Collection lead by Dr Mark Nesbitt . Kew holds an incredible archive of plant fibres, plant dyes and beautiful examples of garments and textile artefacts made from various plant fibres from all around the world. This incredible collection, supported by Dr Nesbitt’s animated enthusiasm and in-depth knowledge of each specimen, made for a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Inside the archive, and looking at a jar of Idigo plant dye.

The archive is open to researchers and groups by appointment , if you do get the opportunity to go, we would highly recommend it!

http://www.kew.org/collections/ecbot/

http://www.kew.org/news/kew-blogs/fashionable-fibres.htm

The Wave - Climate Change March December 2009

Today saw around 40,000 people from all walks of life take to the streets of London in order to show the concern regarding the importance of seeking achievable targets at Copenhagen NEXT WEEK!!

There has been lots of press coverage of the Wave, some photos from the guardian and also a few words from Gordon Brown, who we are relying on to commit to an agreement to make important changes to the UK environmental policies.

Zoe and myself took part in the march today. It was cold but didn't stop families, friends, charities and climate organisations turning up to support the need for 'Climate Justice'...

Let's keep our fingers crossed for politicians from around the world to vote on a binding agreement in Copenhagen.

Jules, xx

Fashioning the Future Awards

After a wonderful Fashioning the Future awards reception at City Hall in London last night, congratulations to fellow MA Fashion and the Environment girl Zoe Fletcher for her winning and entry in the Enterprise & Communication Initiative for a Future Fashion Industry catagory.

Well Done!

Swaparama

Restyle and Refashioning V&A, Swishing Day, Saturday 14 November 2009

As my Group are looking into swapping for our Forum for the Future scenario we decided to attend the swapping event being held at the V&A at the weekend. As well as the swapping, there were also a talk about restyling your wardrobe and the chance to meet Saville Row tailors.

The talk was given by Elizabeth Lasker from the Ethical Fashion Forum. She spoke about the rise of ethical fashion and the issue of the supply chain. She promoted such brands as People Tree, Junky Restyling (which she had a suit remade by on display, see below), TRAID and Ciel, which to my surprise the majority of the audience were unaware of. So, to make us feel better, we know rather a lot about ethical fashion! She went on to explain the rise of vintage and how it is important to educate the next generation about how to examine, in order to encourage them to wear and buy vintage clothing.

Some interesting points or facts from the talk:

• $1trillion spent globally on fashion in 2000.
• Of the stock supplied to charity shops, 1/3 goes straight to landfill, 1/3 is sold in the store and 1/3 is brought up and sold overseas (where there are issues over wiping out local trade).
• The 3 P's is the new way to see and do business: People, Profit and Planet.

With the talk over, we headed to the swapping event. By the time we arrived, it was already a mad house. I almost felt that I was in Primark the way people were grabbing whatever they could and throwing down what they were unimpressed with. I found this somewhat disheartening, as I thought people would respect the clothing that somebody else had worn (and perhaps cherished). I was also disappointed to see that people didn't particulary connect with one another, they were too focused on the task in hand.



I forgot to mention that I had brought along to the event a vintage shirt, so I had the opportunity to swap vintage! However by the time I reached the vintage area (5-10 minutes after the swapfloor opened), almost everything had been hoovered up! I ventured to the knitwear section and found a cute knitted polo shirt which appeared to have never been worn (not a bobble in sight). (While I was swapping, Ivan and Zoe spoke to the Saville Row tailors).



I headed to the queue to 'swap' my ticket for the shirt where I spoke to/interviewed a fellow swapper. We had a friendly chat; she saw the event as a 'great opportunity to clear out her wardrobe' and was looking for things for her daughter rather than herself.

On leaving the event, I spoke to two girlfriends probably in their late teens. This was there irst time at a swapping event and they admitted that they found it a little 'stressful' at first as it was like a 'free for all'. They also said something similar to the previous lady, 'it's a good way to turn around your wardrobe and not spend money'.

I left feeling satisfied that I had swapped a garment I never wear for one that I probably will. On reflection I felt the event was a success in preventing people consuming more products as well as having the opportunity to change and add to their wardrobes, however when the 'atmosphere' (get it?!) feels like a Saturday afternoon in Primark that's when I start to worry.

CHEESE!

Good Morning!!

Thought I would quickly share a really good column I just found on the Independent Newspapers website...I was trying to find an article where she talks about owning her own sheep to make her own jumper (What do you think are the chances of me keeping a little sheep in the corner of my flat without anyone noticing are?!) but alas I seem to have lost it, anyway I began reading her other columns and she's really good at tracking down little independent companies that are changing her way of seeing fashion...enjoy!!

http://sanjidaoconnel.livejournal.com/

Zoe x

Beyond Green 2009, Amsterdam

Last week I was in Amsterdam at Beyond Green 2009 with the central theme of Good Design. The day was filled with inspiring lectures but the one I enjoyed the most was Carolyn Strauss from slowLab. She titled her talk Slow Design and focused not only on the slowing down and repairing of objects or products but urged us as designers to take some distance and start looking at repairing behaviour, relationships and in essence, society. She talked about the need for both slow and fast knowledge to best understand how we can create change and that this change can also happen in small places. In short she reminded us that being a designer is a huge responsibility!

The was also a short video presentation by Monique van Heist talking about her new project called Hello Fashion: a collection which no longer changes with each season but instead the timeless designs are added to a catalogue and are continually available.

Beyond Green was specifically geared towards students and teachers from Dutch Design Academies, which created a lively mix of ages and disciplines exchanging ideas, experience, questions and expertise. Despite the small group of students at the back of the hall who seemed more interested in their mobile phones than the vast source of knowledge being presented throughout day, it seemed the event was a great success and it was inspiring to talk to so many people each with a unique take on what sustainability is today and what it should be in the future. Although I do think we have to be careful not to get too caught up in our bubbles, mixing only with like minded colleagues as it is the people who don’t yet understand the importance of social, cultural and environmental sustainability who need our attention the most.

Us Now

Hey all...Just found this short film from Paul Miller about Us Now...its really interesting from an "evolution of how people connect" perspective!!

You should be able to view it here...

Us Now from Banyak Films on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/4489849

Zoe x

Individual work

Yeah that's a great idea Zoe!

I have a blog and a website

Glad you decided to go with forget me knot!

Would be great to see links to websites and images of everyones work uploaded on here.

Jules

Hi everyone!!

I was thinking...some of us have individual blogs and websites - so we could all put our links up and then we can nosey into everyones personal projects/feelings/day to day life?! What do you think?

I've just made a really rubbishy draft website to hold all my research and progress for our personal project...its not got much on at the moment but hopefully i'll get stuff up bit by bit as the project progresses, and maybe get some of your lovely opinions on what you think of my ideas and how you'd interact with it!!

www.forgetmeknot.yolasite.com

I also have my blog on

www.zoegracefletcher.com

Have a good day!! See you all soon!!

Zoe

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog.

I hope there will be many contributions to our first collaborative project as an MA student group.

:)

Julia