on the flipside

Over the past few month I've talked about the two pairs of jeans that I bought in October, of 'raw' (=unwashed) denim, that one's not meant to wash for the first six months. Whilst a gimmick in many ways, I thought it was a nice, unintentional way of steering people towards more sustainable laundering practices. Perhaps, but the story has a flipside.

Peter* brought it to my attention that the kids in Sweden (apparently denim is huge over there), and probably elsewhere, aren't washing their jeans for six months to a year, just like me. They then discard them. He also mentioned an eminent fashion historian who does the same. (I am so tempted to name him, or at least burn the books I have by him.) I have no illusions of reaching any of these people through this blog but please, if you know anyone that does this, perhaps educate them about the resource-intensive processes that it takes to turn a cotton field into a pair of jeans. Sure, most probably give the jeans to charity (let's hope) but it's kind of like kerbside recycling; the stuff disappears from our view and we feel a lot better, having 'done the right thing'.

But do we ever look at the amount we are recycling? Could we do with less? Although I drink three or four bottles' worth a day, I buy roughly one bottle of water a month and keep refilling it with filtered water. But that's not the solution, either. Finally, I am about to swap to a 'permanent' metal bottle. The thought of chemicals from the plastic leaching into the water (I don't know enough here...) is somewhat off-putting. Apparently it happens over time. With the jeans, what is it about having washed them that makes them so unattractive to people? Whatever, it's depressing.

*I gave a talk as part of the postgraduate seminar series yesterday (and bombed beautifully); some other excellent comments came up, too. I'll try and post an account of it all over the weekend, but first I have an assignment due at 5pm.

fabrics!

Last night two fabrics from Hemp Gallery were waiting for me when I got home:

Denim, of 55% hemp, 45% cotton (not organic or otherwise less damaging; just plain old naughty cotton, I presume):

Satin, of 60% hemp, 40% silk (of the type where the worms die, unfortunately):

Both are a very nice quality, with selvedges that I can easily incorporate into the garments externally. The denim has what some would regard weaving faults all through it, namely discontinuous warp yarns, with the ends hanging loose all through the fabric. I don't mind them, though, and may leave them as they are. The satin is fantastic; it's almost plastic-like on the shiny side, like in the photo, and completely matt on reverse. Oh, and have I said it before that I'm not a big believer in fabrics having a 'right' and a 'wrong' side? Fabrics have two sides (or faces), as far as I'm concerned. So to have two very contrasting but equally usable faces is very exciting, and creates more scope for design.


Yesterday I also placed an order for a whole heap of vintage kimono fabrics from KimoYES (above and below). Most are silk, and I'll mostly use them as linings, I think; I loathe ugly linings in otherwise nice garments! The very narrow widths, typical of kimono fabrics, will create some interesting challenges for design and patternmaking and likely I'll be combining several fabrics in one garment. And yes, the aim is for zero waste in the linings and interlinings just as much as in the outer fabrics. Being menswear, I stuck to the more abstract, geometric prints; I also wanted to avoid an overtly Japanese feel within the fabrics. But, given the zero waste nature of the kimono, these fabrics create nice links to the long history of zero fabric waste fashion (yes, I use 'fashion' differently to some writers; all will be explained in the thesis).


Overall the fabrication is coming together quite well. I'm still debating bamboo; it's just doesn't seem as environmentally sound as some claim (it's viscose, essentially) and the anti-bacterial claims seem a tad fishy, too (it's viscose). But we'll see.

On a less positive note, I had the samples from another supplier laid out last week when a friend came over. His response: "Did you buy new tea towels?" I laughed; that pretty much summed up my feelings of the strange checks and stripes that still feature heavily on some 'green' fabric suppliers' collections. But it's bound to change, slowly.

men better designers than women?

I can't not write about this although initially I wasn't going to. On Monday, Nicholas Huxley (whom I've met and who is quite charming in person) made the following comments in an article in the Daily Telegraph:

"Girls are designing more for themselves and for their girlfriends. They do ruffles and minis and more frou-frou looks. It is for the way that women are dressing today. They are dressing to go out shopping for men. It is cheap and nasty."

Apparently, the four males chosen for this year's fashion week are designing garments that are "intelligent", "slick", "stylish" and "classy". Apparently these are (subjective) attributes that female designers are incapable of incorporating into their work.

Then it becomes strange. Rachel Wells of The Age in Melbourne blogged about it, and while there are some outraged comments, some men, and more bafflingly women, have come to Mr Huxley's defence. According to quite a few, there is nothing wrong with these comments.

I do wonder how the female students at the Fashion Design Studio at SIT are feeling. I do wonder how the female teaching staff there are feeling, too. And I do wonder how these comments will wash with the institute's management.

Two years ago a journalism student at UTS interviewed me for an article about this very phenomenon: men claiming they design better for women than women do. He passed me on to this 2005 article in the New York Times. From Tom Ford: "Men are often better designers for women than other women", citing objectivity. If you think that's bad, just wait until you see the comments from Michael Vollbracht. Elsewhere, I remember an article (I think in a 2006 fashion supplement to The Times) Donatella Versace was asked why there seemed to be more succesful men in fashion than women. Her response (more or less, from memory): not many women seemed to study fashion design. Just read the stats in the New York Times article...

On a positive note, at least we know these people still exist in the 21st century, which should empower us to do something about it.

the fashion designer

"This designer is about the most unhappy and unnecessary species of the day. He is uncreative by profession, unprepared for any task but copying, and unaware of the possibilities of his profession. There are practically no schools to give him an adequate training, because there are no adequate teachers. The designer lives on what he calls inspiration - a good and wholesome word which, by common consent and abuse, was perverted into the contrary of its original meaning. Inspiration, as the designer understands it, is far from the sublime moment of spiritual communion with divinity; to him it simply means the copying of insignificant and meaningless details from past epochs or foreign countries, which he cements together into that pastiche called THE STYLE."

So wrote Bernard Rudofsky in 1947, in 'Are Clothes Modern?' (p. 223). Now why does this sound so familiar?

from a camel's toe to an elephant's vulva

This has nothing to do with anything but had me in stitches, and it sort of does relate to patternmaking, and Kathleen points out an important aspect of sustainability: beauty. Of course it's subjective and in the eye of the beholder, and while I see beauty in the processes and the skills employed to create the final outcome, it's there that I don't see any. If this appeared on a dark street, I would run. The outcome reminds me of all those 'clothes for the disabled', designed by physiotherapists, doctors and what-nots, where function overruns form to the point of creating a segregating outcome that reeks of 'the other'. I applaud the noble aims of the project (more than a year old; I hope everyone has recovered...) and would love to see it rerun with a designer involved (I'm presuming there wasn't one).

Oh, the title? Read the comments following Kathleen's post.

deep immersion

The past couple of weeks have seen me writing more intensely than at any other point during the project, except for a couple of isolated periods where I was working on the book chapter or one of the conference papers. And it's been great, as nerdy as that sounds. Hard work - incredibly hard work! - but there is also a sense of accomplishment that comes with that hard work. While all the chapters are on their way in one way or another (and how excellent it is to have a chapter outline that is unlikely to change dramatically now), I've been concentrating on the contextual review of the project, or Chapter 2 (Chapter 1 is the Introduction, well on its way, too). Chapter 2 looks something like this (I've left out the lower level subheadings here):

Chapter 2: Designerly Fashion, Fashion Creation, Sustainability and Fabric Waste
2.1 Designerly fashion, fashion creation and fashion design practice
2.2 Fashion design and sustainability, fabric waste
2.3 Zero fabric waste fashion creation

So, the chapter is a contextualisation of the project and I also attempt to define 'designerly fashion' and 'fashion creation' (see Nigel Cross and his usage of 'designerly''). During the project I've discovered that 'fashion' has been defined and discussed by sociologists extensively (Yuniya Kawamura's Fashionology from 2005 is a good start) but rarely has anyone asked fashion designers or other fashion industry practitioners what fashion might mean to them (or that it might be something different in a design context). I find most sociological explanations insufficient (though useful) for an investigation into sustainability and fashion design, hence my attempt at formulating a designerly understanding of fashion. Mieke Leppens in her 2000 PhD thesis actually noted the same problem with the sociological investigations of fashion, and I've since uncovered a series of studies that remedy the situation somewhat.

Sustainability - I don't know what I would have done if Kate Fletcher's book hadn't come out this year. Well, of course I do - I would have been referencing her website extensively. And if you are new to sustainability, be sure to check out lifetimes and 5 ways. These get discussed in the book, too, but the websites are informative as well. As for that last post, I did grossly simplify, in (an emotional) response to a scathing review of a paper I wrote nearly two years ago but only just got the feedback for. (For the record, the other reviewer was very positive overall.) I might post the reviews here later...

So, Chapter 2 is fast nearing completion (pending me getting my hands on the Fairchild book), and the exhibition for the collection is nearing fast. Next in line is Chapter 3, which is very much about the practice-led methodology in the project. I'm not as nervous about the methodology chapter as I might have been some months ago; I think the rationale for the method is getting set up quite well in Chapter 2. As for the collection, there will be some controversial pieces, I think at this point, which I'll blog about closer to the exhibition. The exhibition will not be merely that; I see it as an opportunity to have the work 'audited' by experts from within research as well as practice.

But, back to deep immersion. The unfortunate side effect is that I'm back in a Central Pacific time zone, waking up just before 3am. But, I will finish! (Pep talks to self - first sign of madness?)

sustainable fashion

The idea that fashion is transient and all about change and therefore cannot ever be sustainable seems to fascinate some pseudo-intellectual academics to no end. The problem is that pondering on it ad nauseam is of little help to the industry or the planet, and to me seems like the coward's way out of tackling real problems. But, as a mere designer (lost in academia), what would I know?

(For the record, I believe it's the pace of change that's unsustainable, not the change itself.)

misc.

Some great news from Hong Kong that will hopefully have a considerable impact in China, too, over time.

Still from Ecotextile News, more great news, about hemp getting the green light, finally, in New South Wales. The Sydney Morning Herald article from yesterday is here. I can personally attest to the high quality of some of the hemp fabrics out there, and look forward to one day of being able to use locally grown hemp.

On local, a friend works for Hedrena Textiles, an Australian company using Australian wool. As I understand, some fabrics are manufactured offshore, but a substantial amount is made here - something rarely seen these days.

just who do you think you are?

Anyone else tired of reading the endless reports of Philippe Starck declaring design dead? It reminds me of that wonderful time in the nineties when Mr Giorgio Armani declared fashion dead*. And more recently, the death notice of the It Bag. So, here's my declaration:

I DECLARE DECLARING THINGS DEAD, DEAD (or at least tedious, unless of course the subject really is dead).

*It was so long ago that I couldn't find any links, but I do remember Gianni Versace kindly suggesting in response that Mr Armani should consider retirement. Then Mr Versace was declared dead.

Wal-Mart and cotton

From Ecotextile News, some good news about Wal-Mart supporting farmers moving from growing conventional to organic cotton. This is, of course, solving only half the problem (if that): consumers need to look at their behaviour, too. Buying less, laundering less, laundering in cold(er) water, laundering with less detergent, laundering with a less toxic detergent, tumble-drying less, and hanging onto the t-shirt longer (which becomes easier the less you wash it). When was the last time you repaired a t-shirt, or had one repaired? How many do you own? I pass no judgment on the last point; once upon a time I owned more than 100 tees, and was quite pleased with myself about it. Not that I've counted recently, but it's probably 30-40 now, but, most of those are more than two years old, many of them five years, and a few eight or more. I know one that I customised in 2001 I bought in 1998 - and I still wear it. But, maybe it's time for an audit. Watch this space.

Regarding the jeans I'm not washing, after checking I discovered that I bought them in late October, so the six month grace is coming to a close. Perhaps starting with one pair, I am going to photograph them before and after the wash, to show off what I love about unwashed denim the most (and the reason I never got into the faux-aging craze, now thankfully over): denim more than any other fabric 'absorbs' and reflects the habits and body of the wearer, whether it's the creases around the knees, or a shadow of keys on the front pocket. Those washed-and-sandblasted-to-death jeans weren't capable of that. Still on jeans (and again from Ecotextile News), a recycling program that turns old jeans into insulation. If you do take part, make sure you only donate jeans that are absolutely beyond repair. Anything else would be lip service.

manufacturing without creating fabric waste

Yesterday I came across the blog for the Queen's Business Forum on the Fashion Industry and a post (scroll down for that beautiful image of Mark's work) that referred to Kathleen's posts about me and Mark Liu at Fashion Incubator. The comment, "This technique is hardly practical for commercial production (at least right away)", is most interesting to me. Throughout the project 'manufacturability' has been a consideration for me; I want the collection to be production-ready, rather than a series of one-off, craft/art garments. There will be a lot of hand-done embellishments, for sure, but I've never thought these are an impediment for small-scale 'mass'-production (though they increase the prices, of course). When I had my label, a few pieces always incorporated hand embroidery, for example. But, with the collection, I am looking at a lot of texts on manufacturing as my guide while I'm designing and making, such as Kathleen's book (I wish everyone in fashion owned this), and texts by Gerry Cooklin, David J. Tyler and many more. I've just been invited to talk about my research to the R&D team of a large Australian manufacturer, and it'll be interesting to see the reactions there. It should prove quite helpful in addressing issues of manufacturing in the discussion part of my thesis.

But, thanks to Amanda at the Q'BFFI blog for the heads up!

new journal from Berg: Fashion Practice

First came the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, and now there is a new journal from Berg, Fashion Practice, The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion Industry. From the Berg website:

This is the first peer-reviewed academic journal to cover the full range of contemporary design and manufacture within the context of the fashion industry. Design processes and new technologies fuel the most vibrant areas of fashion practice and commerce today, yet they have been largely ignored by scholarship. Fashion Practice fills this major gap by providing a much-needed forum for topics ranging from design theory to the impact of technology, economics and industry on fashion practice. The journal also covers the cultural ramifications of these isues upon the larger fashion sphere. Interdisciplinary in approach, Fashion Practice will address, broadly, the business of fashion, including some or all of the following topics:

• innovation in fashion design and practice
• sustainability and ethics within the industry
• micro-and nano-technologies within the fashion context
• 'smart' textiles and digital fashion
• materials, design, concepts and process
• fashion consumption and production from retail/e-tail to performance fashion
• new developments in fashion and clothing retail

The journal encourages submissions from scholars and practitioners working specifically within fashion / apparel, design and business departments, as well as those working on the creative industries from a broad range of social science perspectives.

To have two new such journals emerge in one year is great; there has been somewhat of a void in opportunities to publish research on fashion design practice in journals. Seeing Fashion Theory and Fashion Practice listed next to each other on the Berg website makes one wonder why this didn't come about earlier. But better late than never. The advisory board looks most impressive.

misc.

An interesting business concept: one owned by consumers, nvohk. (Having run -badly- a brand called USVSU once upon a time, I can say from experience that creative brand name spellings can be a blessing and a curse.) There seems to be little information as to what the eventual product line will be like but I hope against hope this is not another venture pushing god-awful organic cotton t-shirts. I won't name names but too many of them produce what is essentially compost, from an aesthetic point of view.

I found nvohk through Ecoshopper.net, where there are some interesting posts, though posting doesn't seem too regular. But, pot calling the kettle... green? Speaking of green, the header bugs me for its touting of another 'eco-cliche', a photo of a forest. My original supervisor, Dr Cameron Tonkinwise, actually ran a project once where the undergrad students had to design a logo for a sustainability initiative that didn't use the colour green, the globe or sphere in any form nor any type of plant. Think about it, eh?

Finally, an article on sustainable fashion by Tiffany Choy, that provides some background to FutureFashion, which I was going to pick on here at the time but never got around to (timber catwalk - see previous paragraph). I guess my worry was that because of the show, and based on one dress per brand, consumers might somehow misconstrue companies like Versace, Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent as 'eco-friendly'. I don't doubt the desire to be so exists within the companies that took part but most still have a long, long way to go.

open your diaries, and educators, look up!

At the moment the amount of writing is making my fingers and brain bleed, hence the lack of posting. I'd be lying if I said this year, with the exhibition(s), thesis submission, the possible show in December and the rest weren't making me nervous. At times it's terrifying. But enough whine and onto business:

UC Davis is hosting a free (good on them!) symposium: “Designing with Conscience: A Sustainable Fashion Symposium” on Sunday, May 18. The list of confirmed speakers certainly looks promising: Lynda Grose is part of the line-up.

And this from Fashioning an Ethical Industry, a Labour Behind the Label project, which couldn't be timelier: Teaching Resources "that will provide educators on fashion-related courses with a variety of ideas to enable them to teach corporate social and environmental responsibility issues." As I noted then, there was a general desire at the IFFTI08 conference for more knowledge among fashion design and technology educators on issues of sustainability, and this looks like a great start.

if in South Australia in July 2009...

...consider attending Winterworks, an "international ecologically sustainable bush textiles symposium". The symposium will take place in the Mount Lofty Ranges in SA between July 12 and 17, 2009. India Flint, an Australian textile artist known for her works using Australian Merino wool and plants, has more information here. The setting certainly looks stunning; let's keep an eye out for the call for papers.

if in San Francisco...

...go to this (click to enlarge):



Dr Connie Ulasewicz co-edited the book I contributed the chapter to, and she will have a pretty rich understanding of the issues. (From here.)

something good

Trying to stay on top of things, and up-to-date with EVERYTHING (ha!), I now get daily Google alerts on 20, 30, 40 topics a day; most on things relating to my thesis and, ahem, a few relating to birds. (Have you seen my del.icio.us? Nerd.) You can specify News, Web, Blogs, Video or Comprehensive. I get Comprehensive, daily, for each search term (e.g. "green fashion", "eco-fashion", "sustainable fashion", "green clothing", "green apparel" and so it goes...) Thanks mainly to blogging, my inbox fills with more crap every morning than those portaloos along the City2Surf route (I had to go during last year's run so know what I'm talking about). That's how that stupid "cotton is great (if it's Jag Apparel)" post came to annoy me. Today, an absolute gem: Reflections of an Angry Shopgirl. The post is brilliant. And I love the cranky writing. Through friends I'm aware what a nightmare to spare time running a shop can be, but I hope she can keep the blog going even intermittently.

The Angry Shopgirl's attention to detail reminded me of something that I've been thinking about ever since I started this project: what the hell am I going to sew everything with? Polyester/cotton threads are generally much stronger than cotton or threads from other natural fibres; the durability argument. But cradle-to-cradle and "monstrous hybrids" as McDonough and Braungart put it; I don't know. Though of course, IF I do some 100% polyester things, they'll be sewn with 100% polyester threads, and when they are all over and done with after many, many years of loving wear and care, Patagonia or Kate Goldsworthy can upcycle them into new beautiful things. But say, for example, organic cotton thread: where will I get the range of colours (hundreds) that something like Rasant, from Ackermann, offers? I think I'll ask Ackermann. If there is no demand, there will be no supply.

Speaking of, I expect to hear back for my inquiry regarding the recycled textiles from The Smith Family in the next few days; I'd like to use some in the collection, with those monstrous hybrids whispering in my ears about downcycling. Report to come.

misc.

Today, Cotton USA gets into trouble for claims about cotton and sustainability - please, go after Jag Apparel next. Their 'blog' qualifies as advertising, doesn't it? On a positive note, just after the 29th International Cotton Conference in Bremen, Germany, the Organic Exchange will organise a two-day seminar for business (courtesy of Ecotextile News).

Why I avoid interviews with fashion designers written by fashion journalists (from The Toronto Star, via this blog):

"Using raw silk in jewel tones, organic wools, organic cotton-bamboo blends and organic denim, Biddell has created coats with grand architectural collars, extreme wide-leg jeans and dramatic eveningwear with long trailing trains and full skirts.

“A lot of the silhouettes I am using are egotistical,” Biddell says of the high volume shapes in his collection. “I haven’t seen a lot of really interesting, unique organic clothes … there is a lot of casual wear in organic fabrics but there are only a few luxury designers, like Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs, who are starting to go sustainable."

There is a video of the collection inspired by eco-warriors and animé here. I have to say, the only thing that caught my eye on that page was the advertisement for Earth Hour. A year ago, Sydney was leading the way with it; now it's global. It's easy to be cynical about it, but as a visualisation tool it was pretty powerful as I recall. My neighbours and I were sitting outside in the darkness; at least 80% of the neighbourhood, normally all lit up, was dark. As for my cynicism regarding the article about the Project Runway Canada winner; it is great he's chosen to use the fabrics he has. I'm just a little bit impatient for there to be more widespread intellectual dialogue on fashion design that goes beyond designers talking about their inspirations.

As a short distraction, the following video from Issey Miyake (from last year) is powerful, too:

greenwashing: cotton

Courtesy of another Google alert came this:
"Essentially, all earth friendly fashion is biodegradable. 100% cotton is very appealing to most earth friendly fashion customers who wish to look chic and help the environment. If you’re interested in the latest earth friendly fashion made of 100% cotton, take a look at some of these featured 100% cotton items of eco-friendly apparel below."

Ok, the blog exists merely to promote a brand, Jag Apparel. And maybe Marissa2007 really does think cotton is environmentally friendly. I invite her to read some real facts about cotton here. Or here. I could go on but am very busy, and very annoyed.

Bottega Veneta A/W 2008 by Tomas Meier

These three looks caught my eye whilst trawling through the vortex that is style.com during the shows. I'd argue that all three looks would be adapted to no-waste fairly easily, without compromising the integrity of each design. Maybe they are no-waste. I doubt it, but I'd love to work with them to make them so.

copyright and fashion design in Australia

While in Melbourne, a copyright infringement case involving two dresses got a bit of press. Melbourne brand Review managed to convince a judge that a dress by Sydney label Lili was a copy of one by Review. You be the judge (Review on left, Lili on right; image from The Age):

Whatever, I say. Copyright infringement is rampant in the Australian industry, but forgive me for saying this: neither of the above dresses are worthy of litigation given their lack of originality, in my humble opinion. Every high street label has done something similar over the last couple of years; I've made quite a few patterns in that time that would be 80-90% like either of the above, and I can assure you neither dress was copied. I'd guess something Marc Jacobs did in 2002 or 2003 would be the original source and since then the idea has been regurgitated more than an episode of M.A.S.H on mid-afternoon television. Fashion design in Australia is in a long-term crisis; for many designers, magazines, overseas buying trips and websites such as style.com and net-a-porter are the primary sources of ideas: to copy is to design, apparently. It takes me back to 1999, when I was completing my undergraduate collection. We were required to find an industry mentor, and mine was a high-profile Australian designer, still very successful in business today. Everything he did was based on bought samples and magazine photographs. You say inspiration, I say rotten potato. His exact words to me: "There is no time to design in Australia." I would beg to differ. Of my graduating year, two unique and original friends stand out: Therese Rawsthorne and Fiona Buckingham of Kyotap. Over the past few years I've had the pleasure of making patterns for both, and it's been a delight to see the two actually make full use of the creative skills bestowed on us during our education. I should also note that both are very capable of making their own patterns, too; I've come in when they've been too busy to do so. Both have dedicated clienteles that go back for more. Perhaps because I know Fiona's work better, I can usually recognise a Kyotap piece without checking the label because Fiona's own, original handwriting is inherent and explicit in every single garment. The two are my beacons of hope.

What worries me is the precedent the two dresses above set. What next: a similar case over some god-awful smock dress with a jewelled neckline? Because to me, they all look the same.

misc.

Discarded to Divine is an upcycling charity project involving designers and students in San Francisco; an article is here and the website, including images, is here. This will be the project's third year, wish them the best of luck.

Staples have switched all their copy and print centres to recycled paper, a first for a national printing service in the US.

Still from Environmental Leader, on the confusion over carbon labels and what they mean, if anything.

Via the Sustainable Style Foundation (I'm still catching up post-Melbourne), Toggery by Kate D'Arcy - with lots of colour! The website claims the product to be 100% organic cotton and locally made; I'd love to know more about the dyes used.

Via Ecotextile News, polyester uniforms of Japanese telecom firm Oki Electric Industry are to be recycled by Teijin, the same company that's working with Patagonia on the Common Threads garment recycling program.

That's all for this morning.

synergies: yeohlee teng and andrew hague

During the shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris I was annoyed with style.com for omitting so many worthy designers from their coverage, for whatever reason. With some of the labels they bother to write a runway review for... Anyway, one established designer style.com ignores season after season is Yeohlee Teng, whose approach is beautifully showcased in Yeohlee: Work
 - visually better than in some of the essays, if I may say so. As I've complained before, describing a designer's practice as an artistic and/or art practice can unintentionally keep hidden the nitty-gritties of the practice itself - and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know about it. The book is somewhat vague as to how Teng went about resolving some of her ideas. It's not that the creative facets of practice aren't important - I passionately believe they are, but they shouldn't overwhelm the more mundane, practical aspects of practice. (Actually, I'm not convinced the two should or can be treated separately from each other in a critical account of practice; it's just that much of the literature shies away from the bits that get hands dirty.) And please, let met clarify; I may be critical of certain decisions regarding the scope of the book, but I am very much a fan of Teng, one of the less-waste pioneers. And very jealous of Mark Liu who recently got to meet her. But, without further ado, some images from Teng's latest collection are here. I hope so in any case - after six foreheads had loaded the page froze on my computer.

And here is the beauty of the message I got from Andrew Hague earlier today: a clear, concise description of what he did to arrive at the shirt in Fletcher's book (p. 153 - for copyright reasons I won't post the image here). I am posting Andrew's description here unedited - practice-led researchers every where, sit up and listen:

"The project was given as a class assignment by my instructor, Lynda Grose, and she was so impressed with it that she sent it along to her colleague, Kate.

The idea was germinated years ago when I saw an exhibit by Yeohlee Teng at the museum at FIT, where they had copies of her actual patterns on the wall. Her interest in fabric conservation was admittedly financially motivated, but I guess the idea stuck. I wanted to reassess traditional design protocol in service to "green design," instead of simply replacing one carbon intensive product with one with a smaller eco-footprint, if you will.

So I found an image of a traditional shirt pattern on the web and pulled it into a vector-based platform (Illustrator, but almost any will work). From there, I manipulated the pattern almost arbitrarily to fill out all the holes which would leave wastage. I paid special attention to the armholes, but that's about it. I let the shirt become what it wanted to be. Most importantly, I neither added, nor subtracted pattern pieces, so when I sat down to the sewing machine, I sewed the shirt the way I had been trained as a tailor's apprentice.

The result is a decidedly Kawakubo effect, but the purpose and rationale are what makes it special."

I see similarities in Andrew's approach (for example, the parameters; "I neither added, nor subtracted pattern pieces") to some of my own experiment briefs. One reads as follows:

"Use the sketch and pattern of an existing design, and test various ways of placing the pattern pieces on a particular fabric width. When the least wasteful way of cutting the garment has been discovered, look at the gaps between the pattern pieces (fabric waste) and begin to redesign the garment by incorporating these gaps into it. Use sketching, informed by what is happening on pattern, to explore different possibilities of incorporating the wasted fabric into the design. Modify the patterns until waste has been eliminated. "

Confession time. At this point, 67945 years into my PhD, this is one of very few of the experiments I've yet to do, and for the others there are good logistical reasons for not having done them yet. But, the collection is lacking 'good' jackets (=any I'm happy with) and there is a jacket I did for my label back in 2003 that has much potential; it will most likely provide me with the existing design.

I would like to thank Andrew for sharing, and I dare you to try it out. It's how it can begin. Andrew's account hopefully shows that no-waste can be as creative as you allow it to be. Finally, if you are unfamiliar with Lynda Grose, she's as pioneering and inspiring (I think) as Kate Fletcher.

back

I will not post a review of the IFFTI08 conference, except to say that the papers I looked forward to didn't disappoint. Yesterday the conference finished with a panel discussion on sustainability and it was a delight to hear the diversity of views from around the world, and more significantly, sense the huge hunger for more knowledge from everyone. The reminder about the development of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion (LCF) was timely; the initiative looks very promising (but I can't find a website). On the whole, I've come back invigorated, and have some very rough ideas for post-doctoral research that would involve industry, too. I did meet some old friends who are doing very well in industry, and the hunger for more knowledge is apparent there, too. I did ask a friend, a designer for one of the largest manufacturers of t-shirts and cotton underwear (all made in Australia) if the company had any plans for even small percentage of organic or other alternative cottons in their products. "We looked into it but the consumers aren't interested", was the response. I doubt this, or at least wonder what the actual percentage of non-interest was. I also wonder when this research was conducted; as Alison Gwilt pointed out on the panel, last year's Earth Hour probably played a huge role in Australia in bringing the environmental crisis to the mainstream. Further, I think the responsibilities are shared, and such a passive approach is sad. This company really could lead, given the volumes of their production. I understand that a 100% shift away from conventional cotton is not possible in an instant - simply, not enough fibre is being grown to meet the potential demand - but examples set by large-scale manufacturers like Nike, Marks & Spencer and Levi's will be followed by many, and soon.

Speaking of denim, I told a friend about the jeans (which admittedly weren't chosen for their environmental friendliness, except maybe durability - I plan to wear them for 5+ years; my oldest pair is 13 or so years old) and she's asked me to blog about them here. I'll certainly check the exact date I bought them, and will photograph them, too, as they are at the moment (in the freezer, to be exact). With four or so months of wear, some of the indigo has worn off where I keep my wallet and keys, and the creases around the crotch, knees and hem - that's my body leaving a very personal imprint on the garment. In fact, when held up from the waist, there is a strong suggestion of the body in them. Because of the freezing there is no smell, but the jeans feel 'dirty' - both have had drenchings of beer, rain and food on them (spot cleaning does the trick), not to mention the natural oils our skins produce.

At the conference I was jokingly referred to as one of the two people in Oz to have Kate Fletcher's book (Sue Thomas is the other); apparently Amazon is having problems with the paperbacks (though do correct me if you know otherwise). Again I spent the flight reading, Chapter 2 titled 'Ethically Made'. Using Donella Meadows' list of systems intervention points and examples from fashion and textiles, Fletcher sets the stage for the future in a most powerful way. I've been reading the book in a rather random fashion, and this chapter has probably had the strongest impact on me to date. As a designer and a design educator I was left feeling empowered and re-energised after reading it. This was partly from the panel discussion, too - the power of all the design educators in the room for a change for better was acknowledged.

I've much more to blog about but other things need addressing urgently. On Monday I saw the final proof for the chapter - I'm very excited.

the designer genius

A while back I commented on Kathleen Fasanella's blog that I sometimes fantasise of there being some legal protection for the term 'fashion designer'. It was mainly an emotional response after two recent requests for work, from people that were utterly clueless. Once upon a time I was not very choosy at all as to who I worked for, but now I simply say no to anyone that needs to have fusing explained, not to mention the notches on patterns, why it's ideal to follow the grainline I've drawn on the pattern, etc.

Reading Kate Fletcher's book on the flight today, I discovered a very different view, carefully considered (not that I'd expect anything else from the author), and found myself learning and agreeing. The final chapter, 'User Maker', is critical of how "the industry controls and 'professionalizes' the practice of designing and making clothes" (p. 187). According to Fletcher, this results in "passive fashion" and deskilled consumers reluctant to customise, repair and transform the increasingly homogenised clothes on offer (I will rewrite the paper I presented at Dressing Rooms in Oslo last year, after I've finished with the book). Fletcher is critical of the myth-building by the industry - the designer as a creative genius - and this is where my pulse went up; it's an issue that has annoyed me for years. Read almost any article or book about a fashion designer (Colin McDowell's books on Galliano and Gaultier come to mind first) and there you see it: the designer presented as a creative artist. You see, in the early phases of the project I was trying to find out how fashion designers actually work, so I could eventually perhaps understand how fashion designers might work in a zero-waste situation. There isn't much out there, that isn't dressed up in the mythology of fashion design. One might as well watch The Bold and the Beautiful. I tried to categorise fashion design and patternmaking practices at Nordes, and whilst I see holes in the thinking of that paper, it is something I will take further as the project progresses.

But back to Fletcher's ideas. I certainly love the idea of a garment that is not finished when the designer thinks it is, in the sense that it may later transform into something more special in the hands of the consumer. Cameron Tonkinwise has written about this in Design Philosophy Papers (Issue 3, 2004), about design that is not finished, about things that can keep on keeping, I think he put it. It's a beautiful paper - read it.

I'd go on but the internet cafe in Melbourne doubles as a sauna, apparently - I'm literally dripping. Tomorrow, for the papers!

protocol analysis: fashion design

(Last post today, and probably pre-IFFTI, I promise)

Today I took part in a protocol analysis(*) exercise at uni; they wanted a designer from each of the disciplines (fashion design, visual communications, industrial design and interior design) to work in a real-life design situation and talk through their thinking whilst designing whilst being filmed. Apparently my PhD-designing was real life enough. (And to prove I've completely lost my sense of humour, everything I do now is doctoral. As in doctoral sewing, doctoral answering the phone, doctoral going to the toilet. Think carefully before stepping into the slushy pit that is a PhD.)

It was interesting to be the guinea pig, given the practice-led methodology of my project. There are parallels in what I'm doing during the practice and what I did today (working on a circle shirt, of all things, on camera). Of course I don't talk out loud in my studio - much - but as I'm needing to keep a record of pretty much everything I do, I kind of talk inside my head a lot as I document it all. I do tell myself that most faculties are still intact while I do this, of course, but boy is it noisy in there sometimes. Research, baby. It was also interesting to get someone else's view on my design processes afterwards; one person's (mine) anal retentiveness is another's "methodical approach", it turns out. The video will be used to show undergraduate students design in action and reflection in action. That tablecloth (to be explained later) is sure to come back to haunt me, possibly on YouTube.

(*) Protocol analysis as a method of inquiry isn't anywhere near as boring as it sounds even if a large percentage of the academic papers written about it would put half the universe into a permanent coma.

Found: Andrew Hague

The MySpace was that of the very Andrew Hague in Fletcher's book! I'm hoping to write a post on him and his work here soon so watch out. Two weeks after resurrecting the blog (after nine months in password-only purgatory) it's finally coming up on Google. So, hopefully I can use this for good and plug another no-waste designer out there.

circles and waste

Any investigation into cutting without waste would eventually need to consider circles. Take circle skirts. The question, generally, one finds oneself asking over and over in a no-waste approach is, 'What can this shape become?' 'This shape' mostly refers to the edge left behind by a pattern shape one has just created; I absolutely believe that here the main limiting factor is one's creativity.

With circles there are many possibilities. Here's a dodgy quick sketch to (hopefully) illustrate three:



The first and second are the same really; the third is something I did at work yesterday. We had some digitally printed blocks of fabric with a blank border about an inch wide between each, which the designer definitely didn't want in the skirt. (Why the textile people couldn't have the solid background colour continue through the 15 metres is beyond me. No, we didn't need it in repeat but all up we paid for at least 20 inches of blank bits through the fabric.) It was to be a full circle, so I made the skirt with six pieces: a quarter circle at front and back and eighths at sides, with side seams (and the zip!) on the straight grain and the bias seams at side front and back. The waistbands came out of the shaded bits. For a no-waste skirt, the third option would probably be the easiest though I see lots of design potential in the first two, too. And not just applique, which has become the running joke in my project - as in "can't think of anything to do with this so it'll become applique". There will be some applique, for sure, but hopefully it won't look like a poor man's version of those amazing fishermen's coats from Awaji Island.

I would love to one day do an experiment with leaving the corners in (rather than cutting out a circle) and darting the hem to bring it back to the circle and having it on the outside. But maybe you'll do it first. Whilst my collection of menswear may well have some skirts in it (why should a windy male groin be the reserve of the Scots?) I'm not sure about circle skirts. Nor capes; whether on men or women, I always expect the cape wearer to take off and save the world flying.

The waist doesn't have to be a circle, of course. It could be a simple straight slash (on any angle, as long as you know what it'll do), or a rectangle, like this:
To cut a long, painful story short, a lovely friend is having a commitment ceremony (she doesn't believe in marriage) and was going to get a dress made from a reissued 1950s Vogue pattern. Her dressmaker bailed and I said I could get someone else but that person wouldn't go anywhere near a Vogue pattern with a sewing machine because why would one; life's too short for those nightmares. So, I offered to 'fix' the pattern prior. From the picture I expected to find pleats but it was cut like the doodle above; the corners create flares from the waist.

(As a side note, why do they print a cute little zip on the pattern piece? A notch would do quite nicely, thanks very much. As for the rest... Thankfully it's a good friend, otherwise all that tissue paper - how I HATE tissue paper - would be eaten and digested in anger by now.)

I had a point but now it eludes me. Think outside the circle, maybe?

what couture? haute couture (and not couture)

Whilst I've taken a break this year from teaching in order to finish my thesis (this makes me a nearly middle-aged full-time student...), I'm giving one lecture to the second-year students this semester that I've given twice before, on haute couture. The subject is 'Couturier Techniques' and it's mostly very practice-oriented, with a series of six or seven lectures to support, beginning with mine today.

When I was first asked to do the lecture, the working title was 'What is couture?' I will give a very brief history and an overview of the organisational support for the industry in France, but mostly the lecture is about the clothes and their makers and wearers, and the relationships between them that are intrinsic to couture. I hope that by the end, the students will see how all those 'haute couture' shops along Parramatta Road (a grotty but important Sydney roadway) aren't. I also hope that by the end any misconceptions about the meaning of haute couture have been laid to rest. Understandably a common misunderstanding among past students has equated haute couture with eveningwear; evening certainly dominates the little media coverage couture now gets. My perhaps most important example to show the impact of the client on the garments produced is decidedly day: the famous 'Bar' suit from Dior's 1947 'New Look' collection. Or three rather different versions of it, to be precise.

I will also touch on the recurring pronouncements on the death of couture, and the reasons for couture's decline. In an era when some companies will have you believe that a trend lasts a month, who would be willing to wait three for a garment to be finished (presuming you can afford it)? I don't believe the claims nobody can any longer afford couture - there is arguably more uneven wealth in the world than ever before - rather, I think it's a cultural thing. Apparently to many shopping is a social activity full of pleasure, and being able to take something home straight away - we don't question that any more, do we?.

Many dismiss haute couture outright as an unnecessary frivolity (often without any insight into quality, workmanship, etc.). It's therefore a pleasure that Alison Gwilt, a colleague, has been focusing on haute couture for her PhD for some time. For the past two years, I've not really followed the various investigations into 'slow fashion' as intently as I should have, but surely there are links to be built to couture? Fletcher has included a 'slow fashion' section in her book but I've yet to read it. Anyway, some of the positive aspects of haute couture get little airing, such as the service aspect (a garment will be repaired and/or altered as needed in the future, usually free of charge), or that garments are produced to order only.

Tomorrow: Melbourne, and IFFTI 08. I seem to cause the weather to turn frosty every time I go down, regardless of season; Victorians, I apologise and advise you to rug up.

The World of Blue Jeans, a photo essay from Time

Here. The images could, of course, be of most things we wear now.

Anyone else bought a pair of 'raw' (unwashed) jeans lately that you're not supposed to wash for the first six months? I got two pairs in October/November, from G-Star. That was after a month or two of looking for organic cotton and/or hemp alternatives, both in real shops and the net. By alternatives I mean something that I would actually want to wear, not something I would wear just because it was organic cotton and/or hemp (because I wouldn't - I've yet to find a hemp pair that I would love for five years, a criterion for any new garment I buy).

Now, for someone that always abhorred the artificial aging and distressing that dominated denim for so many years, the tide has finally turned in the past two years and there are jeans worth buying again (even if some prices remain in the rude and stupid categories). Denim - at least reasonably good-quality denim, with no nasty stretch in it - will respond to wear better than any other fabric, I think. Knobbly knees, wallet, keys; it all eventually comes through like the Shroud of Turin but without the pilgrims, making your pair explicitly yours. No such luck with the generic 'worn' jeans of yesterday. I didn't buy jeans for four years, which resulted in a range of denim rags hanging off me towards the end of last year.

But back to the no-washing: the six months has something to do with the jeans taking to your shape or not losing their (synthetic/chemical/toxic?) coating, depending on the sales assistant you get. I think it's a bit of a gimmick, a trend, and nothing more, but one with some positive side effects. As we know, many garments make their greatest environmental impact in the hands of the consumers, through laundering and tumble-drying. (Though Fletcher provides some great insights about this in her book; some were new to me.) One friend lasted beyond the six months, despite weekly wear of the jeans, and I've now made it to 4+ months. The secret to odourless denim? The freezer. I aired and aired the jeans, religiously, but there were a few hot weeks in November and airing in the end did little. You whack the jeans in the freezer for 24 hours, however... Perfect! 24 hours seems to be enough to kill the bacteria that live off your sweat, dead skin cells, body lotion, etc. Now, this isn't without problems, of course - freezers consume considerable energy. But, I think if you have one in operation already, a pair of jeans doesn't take up much space or extra energy to freeze, though I'd love to see someone investigate this.

In the end, though, because of the sweat, dead skin cells and body lotion residue I am looking forward to washing the jeans soon. One more month, maybe two... And to take your mind off my dead skin cells, here are some images from Eco Chic, a show in Jakarta, Indonesia.

project runway australia

If that sort of thing interests you, applications for Project Runway Australia close on Sunday. Since I don't have cable and won't be watching, I won't know if the competitors will be tested on such essential design skills as printing off pictures from net-a-porter.com and giving these to a patternmaker, or attending a champagne launch for a thrush medication on a Wednesday morning so that your picture may appear in the Sunday papers. But please do tell me all about it when it begins.

del.icio.us

Everyone in my inner circle would know that I'm not exactly up there when it comes to new technology and new things on the web, even if I may have been part of the first wave to leave Facebook. I've known of del.icio.us for quite some time but never got around to it until last week. Some of my fellow research students do know me for my, um, somewhat anally retentive bookmarking, so it's hard to believe it took this long for me to join. I joined on Friday, and imported all the bookmarks from Firefox and IE on my uni computer. 1200+... By the time I'd done the same at home - let's not even go there. It may be a blessing I've yet to work out how to do the same from Safari. I've spent four days culling and cleaning (not unlike the experience of leaving Facebook, actually), and whilst there are some obvious missing tags and things that don't necessarily make the sense they could yet, here they are.

information wanted: Andrew Hague

In Kate Fletcher's book there is a photo of a shirt (p. 153) by Andrew Hague, described as "efficient pattern cutting concept shirt to address wastage". I did Google searches for 'Andrew Hague fashion' and 'Andrew Hague patterncutting', with little success in the first five or so results pages. I did find this, the MySpace of a Andrew Hague. I will contact him later, to see if he's the one. I should contact Fletcher, too, to ask for more information and thank her for the book (a must!). But, if you know more, please email me on timo.i.rissanen at gmail.com For whatever reason, there is no reference to Hague in the body of the book.

Oh, and the book with my chapter in it should be out by mid-April - I just got word on the weekend that there has been a slight delay. I'm still not completely over my embarrassment that the chapter includes no reference to the research work of Deborah K. Burnham but naturally I will rectify this in any future publications. Thanks to Kathleen Fasanella and Alexandra Palmer for introducing me to her work. On Palmer, the latest issue of Fashion Theory has a fabulous article by her, with a fascinating account of her education at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under Stella Blum, during the Diana Vreeland era. In fact, the entire issue, on fashion exhibitions, is fantastic, and I'm finding it really helpful as I find myself involved in three different exhibitions over the next 18 months. One is, of course, my PhD exhibition, I'm contributing to the catalogue of one by two colleagues and I'm co-curating one for 2009.

the crisis of fashion journalism in australia

This sorry piece in the Sydney Morning Herald pretty such sums up the state of 95% of fashion reporting in this country (100% of TV reporting, in fact). Only last week I was bemoaning to a colleague how the reports from the shows tend to be along the lines of, 'Oh, look at this funny hat', and there it is. I long for the days when Jane de Teliga, Maggie Alderson and Patty Huntington used to report for the Herald. I could go on and on - what about that 20-something socialite that 'wrote' the fashion section for the Sunday Telegraph while the wonderful Melissa Hoyer was on leave? The poor love confused the Australian designer Collette Dinnigan with Colette, the store in Paris. 'Nuff said.

misc.

Models smiling at Hussein Chalayan. Who would have thought?

Via a Google alert on eco-fashion came this. Whilst I have absolute respect for people with convictions, 'eco-fashion' and vegan fashion are not the same thing. I don't know, it's like a thousand 'fashion is bad' posts I've read before and speaks to the converted only.

Excitingly, a new journal: International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, from Taylor & Francis. Call for Papers is downloadable from the button at top. From the 'Aims and Scope':

Aims & Scope

International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education aims to provide a high quality peer-reviewed forum for research in fashion design, pattern cutting, apparel production, manufacturing technology and fashion education. The Journal will encourage interdisciplinary research and the development of an academic community which will share newly developed technology, theory and techniques in the fashion and textile industries, as well as promote the development of excellent education practice in the clothing and textile fields.

Contributions suitable for this new journal should fall into one of the following three categories:

(1) Research papers presenting important new findings
(2) Technical papers describing new developments or innovation
(3) Academic discussion papers dealing with medium to long-term trends and predictions.

All published research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymous refereeing by independent expert referees.

collection fabrication

For a long time, I've been torn in regards to the fabrics for the collection. Of course I would like to use solely 'sustainable' fabrics, whether they be organically grown, recycled/reclaimed, local, etc. There are two problems I need to deal with: lack of diversity and lack of money. For example, if I were to use only locally produced (Australian) fabrics, my choices as a designer would be very limited, also posing problems for the quality of the research (see below). Even if I expanded beyond local, the emphasis in hemp and organic cotton fabrics tends to be on basic canvasses, lawns, poplins and jersey. And the quality is often... well, not as high as I'd like; the coffee sack look is still worryingly popular. And don't get me started on the strange woven plaids and stripes that I regularly come across. As for the latter (finance), I think it's a disadvantage that can be turned into an opportunity; lack of money is only as restrictive as you allow it to be, I think.

I do believe that bought, old, fabrics already in existence are better used than not. So, I will use some of the fabrics I've had lying around for four or more years, since I walked away from the label (including some 100 metres of cotton jersey). If I were to mass produce the garments, I would substitute the conventional cotton jersey with an organic alternative, if I were able to find one of the same quality. Two weeks ago a friend donated ten metres of a double wool she'd had for ten years, with good intentions but no outcomes. Anyway, arguably the fabric to date has been passively wasted, and so for me to use it is to make the most of the effort and resources that went into producing it, just like with the fabrics I've had collecting dust.

I will use some fabrics and trims that I've bought in second-hand stores. This would pose a challenge if I were to mass produce but I have no plans to do so; nevertheless, I will discuss later how I would tackle the particular challenges - various options do exist.

Finally, some fabrics will be bought new, and it's here I will make the effort to find the most sustainable option, as long as the compromise to quality isn't too great. So, denim will most likely come in a hemp/cotton mix (organic cotton if possible) and hemp canvas may provide the canvas for some hand-painted pieces. (Painted how? Let me read Fletcher's book, fresh out of the box, and I will get back on that.) I've also seen a hemp-silk mix that might work for some of the shirts.

But, I do aim for the collection to be at the high-end of things in terms of quality and level of finish and some painful compromises may come my way. And of course, I will try to educate myself as thoroughly as possible, every step of the way. For example, in her book Fletcher questions the antibacterial claims made about bamboo fabrics (ppp. 32-34) although TreeHugger has discussed some studies done in the area. There are also some research requirements for the fabrics that I need to meet, for example, using stripes and/or checks, and one-way prints, to see the implications for a no-waste approach. At the end of the day, my project is about not wasting fabric, and to keep it firmly focussed within the time frame I have, some high ideals may need temporary ignoring.

Synthetics: some still take a zero-tolerance approach to anything synthetic (a verbal attack against a carpet manufacturer by an audience member at one of the d factory talks on sustainability last year comes to mind), but to me the infinite recyclability appeals. Kate Goldsworthy's research in particular is worth looking into. To me, the problem with synthetics is more to do with comfort and wearability - I wear them little myself (an old nylon Miyake jacket notwithstanding) so I do have trouble proposing others to wear them.

Then there are the trims and notions... Many will be reclaimed (e.g. buttons from second-hand shops) and I will avoid creating natural/synthetic mixes with trims - for example, applying a polyester braid to a hemp pant. Overall, I find this a problematic area and will discuss further as things progress.

A short post on a complex topic but life beckons. I will return to this, no doubt.

Oh and next week I'll be attending the IFFTI conference in Melbourne. Some very interesting papers though not much on sustainability.

misc.

Bahar Shahpar Autumn 2008 collection: The use of the plaid in this is inspired though probably somewhat wasteful.

Evolution/Revolution: The Arts and Crafts in Contemporary Fashion and Textiles at The RISD Museum of Art, curated by Joanne Ingersoll.

Encyclopedia of Life is now online. Some background from the BBC.

This BBC article on greenwashing reminds me of a project I taught in, where the students had to come up with logos promoting sustainability that did NOT include a sphere/circle/globe, a plant or the colour green.

That'll do for now. But, with the endless Google Alerts, more to come soon.

print repeats

In a zero-waste approach to fashion creation, fabric poses significant considerations for design that one might not otherwise think about. Recently, in my industry job, I did, however, need to think in a no-waste approach, sort of. We were using a print that was essentially a very large check - a 55cm repeat - to make a full-length bias-cut dress. Because the same print placement was desired for all the dresses about to be produced, the yield (or yardage, meterage, etc.) was going to be a multiple of 55cm. I then needed to work out the smallest multiple of 55cm that we could get the dress out of. I think in the end it was seven repeats, or 3.85 metres.

The amount of waste? HUGE, much bigger than the figures put forward by Cooklin and others. I work as a patternmaker, making patterns according to the designer's sketch. These generally aren't negotiable. Yes, I feel awful about it, but at the moment working is about keeping me fed to the end of my PhD, and I still don't know how most companies would go from a conventional, wasteful approach to wasting little or none. Anyway, unlike many of the awful cheap fabrics (result of people demanding ever more awful and cheap clothes, I think) I've had to work with over the years, this was quite beautiful and the print was begging for a creative no-waste approach. It wasn't to be, but I will be using some conventionally repeating prints or patterns (e.g. checks) in the collection to see what the implications are. I may also use -gasp- digital printing although 99% of the time it looks too much like, well, digital printing. It seems that anyone capable of operating a scanner and/or Photoshop is a textile designer these days. But there I go digressing again. (Need to discuss collection fabrication in detail here soon, too. Very problematic, if a holistic approach is to be adopted in terms of sustainability.)

The collection... The working title is 'Bad Dogs', for reasons I'll explain another time. A lively conversation about related stuff today produced 'Do Not Iron the Poof', which might just work as a title. But time for sleep now.

a quick note

I should clarify that I cannot share my key research findings here until after I've submitted my thesis and published the most significant aspects of the research. Obviously I will share some findings in the exhibition in August and don't see a problem with discussing those here. As for the rest, they will have to wait until next year. I do hope to maintain this blog beyond thesis submission, however sporadic that may be. So, apologies, but we'll get there eventually.

new books

Eight months after my last post, here I am, again. The collection is well on its way and the exhibition will take place in August 2008. Since my last post, two significant new books have been published on sustainability and fashion and textiles. Whilst I'm still waiting for my copies to arrive and hence am unable to comment on either, here are the details:

Kate Fletcher: Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys, available from here.

Janet Hethorn, Connie Ulasewicz, Yvon Chouinard (editors): Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? A conversation exploring issues, practices, and possibilities, available from here. (This is the book I wrote a chapter for.)

Also worth a read, the WWF 'Deeper Luxury' report, from here.

That's it, for now. In coming days I'd like to summarise some of the articles on futurefashion (NY fashion week) and Esthetica (London fashion week). I have, however, a lot to organise for my exhibition as well as one I'm co-curating for 2009 so it may not happen.

some thoughts on 'well dressed?' part 1

'Well dressed? The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the United Kingdom' is an excellent report from a team at the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing. It may be downloaded here.

p. 10: Hourly wages in the clothing industry by country, US$ per hour (from an ILO report, 2003)
Pakistan 0.23
Sri Lanka 0.57
India 0.71
China 0.86
Mexico 1.75
Hong Kong 5.13
Germany 10.03
USA 11.16

When I had my label, I paid my sample machinist $25-$30 per hour, and the production machinists $12-$15 per hour. (I didn't pay myself anything for design, patternmaking and cutting.) People always wondered why even one of my basic tees retailed for $80, when some other (larger) labels were selling theirs for half that (made offshore). Everything I did was made in Australia - Sydney, in fact. That's why. I have no regrets about it, though. I knew who was making the garments and in what conditions. There were no middlemen and the money went directly to those that did the work. I should note, though, that I really had no idea about any environmental issues at the time, or at least I didn't pay any attention to them. It was hard enough trying to break even - not that that's an excuse. But, once I was in the midst of it, there simply wasn't any time to try to educate myself. That's what I'm trying to do now.

p. 14: The four major environmental issues associated with the clothing sector are:

• Energy use
• Use of toxic chemicals
• Release of chemicals in waste water
• "Solid waste arising from yarn manufacturing of natural fibres, making up and disposal of products at the end of their life."

My research, of course, investigates one aspect (fabric waste) of the last one.

Speed-reading the report and the technical annex, it seems there is some excellent concrete information on the amount of fabric waste produced by the fashion industry - I need to return to this. Although this seems like a short post - well, this is a short post - I've been interrupted by three phone calls and have probably spent two hours on this, and am getting hungry.

Get the report and read it. Very informative. I'll attempt to return to it shortly.

(Oh, and I did get the progress report in today, officially two weeks late. That's progress.)

why not waste?

At Design Inquiries an audience member asked me why we should worry about wasting (or not) fabric? I replied that I believed fabric to be a sophisticated, precious, designed product in its own right, usually with a significant ecological footprint already attached. Since then (and even before, as my journal shows), I've thought about this more. (Of course I have; this is the rationale for my entire project.) It would seem to me that it's also about the fashion designer having a different sort of appreciation or respect for fabric. If you look at the works of Zandra Rhodes and Mark Liu, for example, both design the textiles first, then the garment. The rich thinking processes that constitute textile design, all of the problem solving, is evident to you when you've designed the fabric. Perhaps when you design the garment, the fabric is that much more precious then that it becomes that much more difficult to waste it. Rhodes actually talks about this: “The [printed] patterns lead me along and influence the way I use them [in garments]…I always consider what is left and try to make it into another part of the dress. I can’t tolerate waste and use every inch.” [In: Rhodes, Z. and A. Knight, 1984: The art of Zandra Rhodes. London, Jonathan Cape, page 56]

I don't know. It's just makes sense not to waste it.

i'm back (for now at least)

It's been more than six months since the last post. Blogging didn't feel a right fit to document the practice on the kind of basis that is necessary for the research; my research journal (a very hands-on approach that I'm familiar with) has worked much better. But, I do think this place can play its own role, too.

The six months have been hectic, as I'm currently trying to explain in my now-two-weeks overdue progress report for the semester. In late February I finished the book chapter I've worked on since August; that has now come back with comments from the publisher. It's quite exciting to see how that project has evolved. The book is planned for publication in early 2008, under the title Sustainable Fashion: Why Now? It is edited by Janet Hethorn (University of Delaware) and Connie Ulasewicz (San Francisco State University). My chapter is titled 'Jigsaw Puzzle: Creating Fashion without Creating Fabric Waste'. The other chapters (there are 15 in all!) seem very exciting; the book will be a valuable resource for various fashion-related fields.

I was accepted to present two different papers at two different conferences. The first was Dressing Rooms: Current Perspectives on Fashion and Textiles, in Oslo 14-16 May. The second was Design Inquiries, organized by Nordes in Stockholm 27-30 May. Both conferences were invaluable experiences, both as speaker and audience member. At this point I still feel the information overload, as I'm typing up my notes. If another research student somewhere reads this and thinks, wow, he's doing all that, know this: I was petrified going to both conferences, doubting everything that I was about to talk about. It's that eternal fear of being caught out. That you're a fraud. You just need to ignore that fear for the twenty minutes it takes to present a paper.

During the trip I had a chance to meet Professor Julian Roberts from the University of Hertfordshire. His approach to fashion design and pattern cutting (or what we in Australia call patternmaking - I still don't know where I sit with either term, and am not sure it matters, either) has interested me from the start of my project, and he was generous in talking about his work. Hell, he was generous just to meet me (and buy me a drink, which I had no opportunity to shout back). I still can't believe how late I was, although luckily I've since understood a few more things about reading the London Tube map.

I was also contacted by Mark Liu who I then had the pleasure of meeting. Mark is a former student who is finishing his MA in Textile Futures. His final work? A series of textiles, that are in fact garments - all of the textile is in each garment; these are zero-fabric-waste fashion! I got very excited by his initial email, and even more so when I saw the work. He's letting me include the the work in the book chapter, too.

I think that'll do for an update for now. Of course I've been busiest with making. More on that at the other one.

Categorising fashion design - one example

Ok, got the book [Rennolds Milbank, Caroline (1985) Couture. The Great Designers. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Inc. New York], these are the categories and designers.

The Founders: Worth, Doucet, Paquin, Lanvin, Callot Souers, Lucile, Boué Souers, Poiret

The Artists: Fortuny, Callenga, Liberty & Co, Mary McFadden, Zandra Rhodes

The Purists: Chanel, Jean Patou, Molyneux, Grès, Augustabernard, Louiseboulanger, Vionnet, Mainbocher, Valentina, Halston, Sonia Rykiel

The Entertainers: Schiaparelli, Adrian, Maggy Rouff, Karl Lagerfeld, Marcel Rochas

The Extravagants: Dior, Nina Ricci, Balmain, Jacques Heim, Jacques Fath, Jacques Griffe, Jean Dessès, Norman Hartnell, Valentino, Givenchy, Galanos, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Yves Saint Laurent

The Architects: Balenciaga, Charles James, Roberto Capucci, Pierre Cardin, Courreges

The Realists: Claire McCardell, Vera Maxwell, Bonnie Cashin, Norma Kamali, Norman Norell, Pauline Trigère, Hardy Amies, Geoffrey Beene, Perry Ellis, Ralph Lauren, Kenzo, Giorgio Armani, Issey Miyake

Like I said, these categories have little bearing to what I'm researching, but it's really interesting to me nevertheless that someone has categorised fashion designers at least partly according to how they work. The designers of some or considerable interest to my project can be found under several of Rennolds Milbank's categories: Callot Souers, Fortuny, Zandra Rhodes, Madeleine Vionnet, Jacques Griffe, Balenciaga, Charles James, Claire McCardell and Issey Miyake. Of course, these are not the only designers that I've looked into; for example, the book is that much old now that Yeohlee Teng doesn't appear. Also, people like Thayaht (an Italian futurist that worked for Vionnet at one point) and Bernard Rudofsky weren't fashion designers, yet designed clothes at one point in their respective careers: clothes that wasted very little fabric. And of course, all types of 'traditional' dress from around the world are of interest to me, as usually very little fabric is wasted in their making. The kimono from Japan is probably the best known example in this respect.

I'm not sure it's within the scope of my PhD to attempt to categorise all different types of fashion designing, but I'm guessing that when I get to the other end, I will have some very good pointers toward such a categorisation. Or I might realise such a categorisation is not appropriate. I do know that different fashion designers have very different approaches to designing: some rely entirely on the sketch, others do not sketch at all and there are countless variations between the extremes.

Fashion design and making (part 1 of countless to come, no doubt)

I suppose that underlying questions in my research are 'What is fashion design?' and 'What role, if any, does making play in fashion design?' Increasingly, with the moving of clothing production off-shore, a fashion designer draws up a garment on the computer, specifies the dimensions of that garment through a set of measurements and emails these off to a manufacturer. A week or so later a sample garment arrives. After a fitting, any required changes are communicated to the manufacturer, usually again as a series of measurements (e.g. raise underarm 1cm; shorten sleeve 2.5cm, etc.), until a sample garment is approved for production. It is now possible to 'design' and acquire a finished sample garment without any direct contact with a patternmaker, or a cutter, machinist, etc.

A particular book comes to mind, titled 'Couture, the great fashion designers' (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1985). The author, Caroline Rennolds Milbank, covers significant fashion designers from Charles Worth (late ninenteenth century) onwards. I don't have the book with me now, but from memory, the book was in categories suchs as 'The Realists', 'The Architects', 'The Artists' and so forth. I'm not suggesting these categories are necessarily the right ones if one is to categorise different types of fashion designing, but the fact that the author has attempted to categorise these designers at least partly based on the way they work (again, I'm working from memory here) is really interesting. I also recall someone once writing that fashion designers could be divided into 'architects' and 'decorators'; while I don't necessarily agree in such a simplistic dichotomy (why couldn't a designer be both?), the labels are once again suggestive of how the designers work.

How does this relate to my research? To eliminate waste, the designer needs to be aware what the garment looks like when its components are separate and laid flat. I know from personal experience that some designers do not, and don't care. To others, the making of the pattern is absolutely integral to their design process, not because of waste, but... actually, I'm not sure why. For me, patternmaking is important because I know (most of the time) how the two-dimensional shapes will turn out in a three-dimensional garment. Now, of course, pattern is also important for me because it's key to eliminating fabric waste.

I'll get my hands on the Rennolds Milbank book at home, to see what the actual categories are, and which designers are under each.