Elana Herzog
Supposed to have my Mind on the Money and Money on my Mind at the moment. So why is it that I can't stop thinking about art ? Nature of Mind, wandering off into beautiful distractions on the pretext of something more substantial than job applications ! My wanderings have taken me to the wonderful insubstantiality of Elana Herzog. This piece says it all Civilization and it's Discontents. It's all connected, it will inform my Upcyling research and exhibition somehow.
Usually with hindsight you can begin to see the threads of your life come together , a story starts to emerge. 2011 seemed a bit of a blur. I had a baby that didn't sleep through,I was doing the "forty something" reflection on life and I then started up a sewing "Upcyling" group.
When I started hosting stitchUP , it was to rekindle my love of the handmade, get out of the house and meet people but also to take a look at fashion - namely "What am I wearing?". Years of motherhood had taken it's toll Cacharel had been usurped by catch-a-snot. Jeans and perma- cardi covered in various baby goo was now my uniform ! I had a wardrobe of clothes that I eventually had to accept would never fit me again.
When I began to think about fashion my initial response was panic. I didn't have time to put in the hours pouring over fashion mags & certainly didn't have the money to keep up. Last week's top trend was this week's fashion no no. Surely this couldn't be ?!... I experienced the "solyent green" horror moment ... fashion was eating itself !!! Consumption at it's most ridiculous!
According to DEFRA (click here to link to sustainable clothing report) two million tonnes of clothing are bought in the Uk per yer, with the discount clothing (low cost, short life-span) making up 20% of the market. They also state 50% of all clothing ends up in landfill.
The life span of a garment from creating the resources; farming cotton; dyeing fabrics; manufacturing materials wastage; distribution; product life-span, laundering and inevitable disposal there are very few areas where there are no adverse effects on the environment.
With this in mind, I aim to explore over the next year ways in which I can rethink my relationship to the clothes that I wear and their environmental impact.
The 4R's REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE
REFUSE
I can refuse to buy new clothes.
I can buy secondhand from websites, vintage boutiques, clothes swaps & charity shops.
I can refuse to buy clothes that have a high impact on the environment.
I can refuse to buy clothes that can't be recycled.
REDUCE
I can reduce the amount of clothing I buy
I can reduce the energy I use in laundering
I can reduce the amount of detergents I use
I can reduce the amount of clothing I need by repairing worn & damaged items
REUSE
I can grow my reuse skills through practice & research
I can refashion garments that I no longer wear
I can give away garments to be reused by others
RECYCLE
I can recycle all materials where possible
I can choose materials that are easily recycled
I can choose where & how & by whom they are recycled - a choice which benefits both the environment & charity & not big business.
This is the beginning of my story for 2012 !