Intro.

As a fashion designer it's sometimes difficult to find a balance between creation and commerce. While I've worked for big companies and small design houses, I've chosen a less direct path than most of my colleagues. Opting instead to travel, study, design and make in as many countries as possible; mixing up ideas and influences and learning new techniques. When the opportunity to explore something new arises I take it.

Recently I was chosen by a 400 year old charity as a fashion designer in residence. (St Vincent de Paul is a name familiar to anyone that loves thrift stores. Founded in Paris in the 1600s, the Vincintiennes have a longstanding tradition of helping those in need.) After a series of interviews and proposals I was given free range over a four acre donation site where all non salable / usable clothing are packaged bundled and sent off to a recycling center, turned into carpet padding and fiber fill.

In many countries I've visited textiles are revered. Admired for their beauty and the skill of the craftsmen they are preserved as artwork, portable canvases that preserve and disseminate culture, folklore and even values. Labor intensive laces, beadwork and precious fabrics are passed from generation to generation. This was a custom in the West until only recently with the advent of postwar consumer culture. In America and increasingly in other countries, old clothing is discarded. Textiles and garments that took a tremendous amount of resources are thrown away with little consideration given to the millions of hours and resources necessary to weave, dye, sew, design, ship and process even the cheapest fabrics. Cheaply made synthetics especially take a terrific toll on the environment. Cconsider the natural resources that go into the growing of cotton and other plant fibers, the metals and resources required for creating machinery and transporting, building factories and powering them. Throw away clothing from stores like Forever 21, H&M and other discounters seems like a modern miracle of democracy and capitalism, but is in fact a destructive monster that is as polluting and exploitative as many other industries.

Including repurposed items, particularly antique beadwork and textiles into my designs has been an integral part of my work since the beginning. For the past few years I've thought a great deal about ways to repurpose to create while making an even smaller footprint. Like many other people I'm constantly thinking of ways to make special small run products that don't damage the environment, by adding to the lifespan of products. This residency is so appealing to me because it gives me the opportunity to work out some of the ideas I've been mulling over.

In preparing for this project I looked at quite a few designers working in the area of recycling. I saw a lot of people without the combination of design and sewing skills unable to fully realize their ideas. Workmanship varies and is oftentimes reduced to simply removing sleeves from one garment and sewing them onto another. Other times the work is self-consciously recycled with very little thought given to the overall use or practicality. I decided to approach from a different perspective. I choose to look at the garments as raw material, as fabric. By stripping pieces down to their bare elements, completely disassembling garments, recutting recombining to create entirely new fabrics. By adding my own embroideries and beadwork I can fully realize my own ideas while creating a new aesthetic. My goal is to create work that reflects a new way of thinking, a new appreciation for textiles. I want to raise the bar for recycled clothing by showing people that very beautiful work can be created without further degradation to the environment.
The best part is that all my work is for charity. The culmination will be a fashion show fundraiser sometime in April with proceeds going back to the charity.