In photo above: Before and After - A 70's "Deux-Pieces" lives a second life, by Maison Faliakos, Fashion Open Studio workshop, Fashion Revolution Week, Ath, GR.
Fashion is a holistic system, incorporating several disciplines such as art, design, craft, business, science, education, technology. As a vital pillar of the economy, fashion as a growth generator is heavily criticized for its practices the last decades, those last having a catastrophic effect on the planet and on human capital. Climate change and social change, accelerated recent developments and shook profoundly the fashion ecosystem, this time for good. Nothing will stay the same: from big groups to independent entities, from large industrial units to local, creative fashion studios. The need for a U-turn is imperative with first and foremost new textile technology (econyl et al.) at the stirring wheel of production worldwide but also a fresh strategy when it comes to resources: no more new fabric, new plastic (Everlane) or (new) waste. Houses, studios, brands and companies are going circular by re-using old stock from scraps to yarns (Queen of Raw), establishing fabric banks (Raeburn) and offering a new type of service, the one of re-designing from scratch your old garments. The design process is pivotal in this new type of assignment: it involves the 100% of the designers with all their relevant tools and knowledge but also requires the engagement of the individual, of the client or wearer as an essential part of a successful, final product.
This business model can and will be scalable the next couple of years and it is already adopted and exploited by different platforms as a check-in into a novel, entrepreneurial cycle. The Fashion Revolution organization local branch in Athens, GR teamed up this year with one of the oldest couture houses of the hellenic capital: Maison Faliakos celebrates 40 years in the field, lately becoming the refuge of a new generation of thinking class, the hype downtown Muses of the old city, who opt for an intellectual kick inside the beauty of those couture garments', elaborate stitches. In a 3-day fashion exercise of high caliber, the team of the house Chief Creative Officer Christos Petridis and Creative Director Venediktos Antipas receive a 70’s two-pieces (dress and jacket) by the owner, international female actor Youla Boudali and transform it with the invaluable help of their head-seamstress Mrs Smaragda and sewing technician Mr Hassan, a Bangladeshi tailor living in Greece-into a new-wave bomber jacket, a bustier top and a pair of sweatpants ( from top to bottom, all stages in the photos bellow: 1.Receiving 2.Sketching 3.Dismantling 4.Ironing 5.Pattern cutting 6.Pattern cutting, re-assembling, print handpainting 7,8. Re-composing 9.Fitting 10. Delivering ( to Happy Customer😊).
In days when venture capitalism is becoming something like instant coffee where every new aspect of everyday use –from masks to loungewear and hand sanitizers to apps for post-disaster scenarios like tsunami warning-is considered to be a profitable equity of relative permanence – clothes continue to be an essential commodity. Fashion is not for the faint-hearted after all and the urge to consume more of it in an irresponsible manner is coming to an end. The end of an era of fashion as we know it and the re-birth of it as a clear and distinctive design process, without blurring lines and obscure places. It is going to cost the fall of some of the industry's Pompeii(s) but we can hope for our dream designer to come in our premises some day by 2030 and revamp our closet by using our existing pieces at a yearly rate. The tectonic plates of the industry, one of the most prolific in design, are moving, almost violently.
To be continued: New Textiles and Textile Technology for the 21st century: Eco-Sustainable, Recycled, (Re)-engineered. Coming up next as an annex?-))
#NothingMoreModThanGoodMode
#whomademyclothes
A4D-D4A💙💚🙌
