Brief: Design and create a one-of-a-kind piece using repurposed materials that you gather.

Think about the issues and opportunities facing your generation: sustainability, new ideas, and materials, (taking into account the ideas from the “True Cost” documentary) whilst also being prepared to explain the connections between your piece and at least one assigned reading in Seminar.

‘This is a story about clothes’ 

The True Cost is a 2015 documentary film directed by Andrew Morgan that focuses on fast fashion. It’s basically a film about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the subsequent impact that the industry is having across the world. 

It focuses on many mini-narratives, each adding anecdotes and personal accounts of their experience in the fashion industry.  According to Vogue US: “If you make one fashion move this season, consider making it a trip to see The True Cost” – a film that asks who really pays the price for our clothes?

“fast fashion isn’t free. Someone somewhere is paying for it.”

Fast Fashion refers to retailers’ practice of producing cheap clothes as quickly and as frequently as possible, more often than not to align with spontaneous fashion trends. Since the prices on these items are so low, they encourage consumers to buy large quantities without thinking too much about their purchases. To lower costs regarding things like storage and production, brands are always searching for cheaper labor which can produce orders in these short and demanding periods of time. This results in workers suffering, often with long working hours and without reasonable payment.

My solution or way of coping with fast fashion?

Fast fashion isn’t going to disappear overnight, but I think it is important to know where your money is going and if you agree with the ethics of how your clothes are made. Most people don’t pay attention to the impacts of their buying habits, their clothing choice is often influenced by cheap price tags and advertised fashion trends. This film makes you think about the impact of your consumer habits and what they have on the people who make your clothes. 

In the western world, we often forget about where our products come from, ignorance in the invisible. I think it is important to know where what you buy comes from, whether that’s food or clothes if you are going to give our money to a business or corporate company you should know where it’s going.

‘True Cost’ is a highly emotive and provoking piece and I can see why it had such a huge impact when it was originally screened. It makes the viewer (especially the more privileged middle-class viewer) feel guilty for their privilege, something so everyday like clothing is something many of us don’t even think about, obviously, as a fashion major, it is something which I pay much attention to but to most people clothes are just a part of their everyday routine. 

Concept: Wearable statement piece

Earrings- this piece represents different aspects of the fashion industry and the ‘True Cost’ film. I decided to create this piece which is inspired by the themes which stood out to me in the film ‘True Cost’ particularly: Capitalism, consumerism, human rights, and pollution. 

I wanted to create something which acts as a representational piece of abstract fashion designed to empower people and entities which have been abused by the fashion industry 

The abstract design represents how we have a distorted world view and need to make a significant shift in terms of our approach and mindset in relation to production and standards within man different aspects of the fashion industry.

The shape itself is inspired by hands, I did this to link to the physical; nature of the fashion industry and to link to the themes of mistreated workers and human rights. The materials I used to create these earrings were paperclips (for the bit that goes through the wearer’s ears), barcodes from old labels, an old red school folder. I was conscious of using items that would otherwise go to waste/that could be repurposed to create something with more meaning and value. I intentionally made the pieces lightweight as a nod to how these issues, despite underpinning much of what we wear and buy, tends to go unnoticed and does not affect us as consumers.

The piece incorporates my personal aesthetic style (see the illustrative linework), which makes it more personal and emotive (the linework in this instance I added to link to hands as the creator of art). I believe that everything you design should represent you as a designer.