Over spring break I experimented with fusing plastic bags together to create fabric for my bustiers. The process begins by putting 2-6 layers of plastic over tracing paper and laying it all on an ironing board. Then you put another sheet of tracing paper over the plastic, and iron over that. The heat of the iron and the type of plastic decides the texture of the final product. I got a lot of leathery textures and when I ironed plastic on a very high heat and held it down in one place for a few seconds, I found that the plastic began to lace. I’m thinking of making white plastic lace and cutting it in a scalloped design to create the look of sea-foam, and using it for my ocean-themed bustier. I will be using blue and white marbled fabric I made for the top of that bustier. To go with this, I also made a cuff from cut soda and beer cans, deliberately showing labels and designs on the cans to remind people that this was made by humans, and of the tragic effect we have had on nature. That is my idea for the ocean bustier; to evoke the ocean with human-made materials that actually pollute the ocean in the attempt to make people think critically about what we’re doing to our planet.

The second bustier will be in a colonial style, with tie-on sleeves. The fabric will be fused with slogans and words from plastic bags I have collected, showing that capitalism is all around us. I want to show both the earlier times of colonialism and our current day capitalism, provoking the wearer and viewer of my piece to think about how the two connect. One of the slogans on a bag I found says I have says “I just HAD to have it!”, which could refer to both consumerism and the desire to occupy territory. I’m not sure what color barricades I will be using, but I create a leathery orange texture that might work. I think it’s fitting that this is a bustier because capitalism and things leftover from the colonial era are all around us, and can trap us in a suppressing society—much like a corset traps a woman’s body.

My next step, now that I have made fabric and the bracelet, will be to begin sewing and continue collecting plastic bags with designs that I want to use. I will be using google, classmates friends and family, and school sewing workshops to learn about sewing. The next step will be to put it all together and figure out where slogans should appear. Then, if I have time, sizing for my models and photoshoots at Coney Island, a very famous spot for ocean pollution as well as capitalism.

Because the fashion industry pollutes the earth and violates human rights more than almost any other industry, it is important to come up with business models that embody an ethical approach.

In seminar I will be examining how fashion and business should incorporate activism to create a better world. My imaginary business, Radical Empathy, enhances and works WITH local economies rather than exploiting or ignoring them.

For my final project in Studio I will be releasing a line of corsets and possibly other garments. This concept is inspired by two projects I did last semester. One was launching an imaginary company called Radical Empathy, a brand dedicated to helping the refugee crisis. This line will be a part of this company.

The other project that inspired this was a corset that doubles a political commentary on the Syrian proxy war.

For this project, I’ll make at least two corsets using metals and plastics that we’re dumping into the ocean. I will collect plastic bags from beaches and streets, fuse them together to make fabric, and make corsets out of the material.

I will also collect soda cans, cut them into scales, and sew them onto one of the corsets to imitate the look of fish scales to show the poignant reality of what we have done to nature. The other corset will be more simple, focusing on the logos on the plastic bags, what they tell us about our society, and the concept of using plastic bags as a fabric.

Here is the criteria for each garment I make:

•sparks conversation/raises awareness about an important issue

The idea for this comes from my time living in Senegal, where I saw artisans making toys out of cut-up metal from the street. It is also a technique similar to that of El-Anatsui, a Ghanaian artist who makes beautiful tapestries out of bottle caps and other metal waste wired together. These methods are a way of taking something unwanted and unsustainable, and reversing that.

I envision customers wearing my garments to parties and events—places for conversations. I want people to see my work and ask what is is and what it means, sparking discussions about the cause and thus raising awareness and building empathy.

Ultimately, empathy is about traveling to another person. We live in separate worlds, and I’ve been lucky enough to travel between them. Radical Empathy gives others the opportunity to do the same. Profits from each piece go to the topic they’re each about.

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