Exhibitions

Trash Fashion

Yesterday me, Lauren and Miss Bing went to London to see some exhibitions. We had a great weekend! As we are all poor students we had to really make the most of going to London as it would be a struggle to be able to go again. And make the most of it we did. We went to MacCulloch & Wallis had a feel of some fabrics and naturally I headed straight to the buttons. Then we headed to the Science Museum for Trash Fashion: Designing Out Waste. That was a really good one for me with my Ethical Frontier project (the name of my professional project). 


After there we went to GSK Contemporary – Aware: Art Fashion Identity. That was my fav exhibition I've ever been to, I thought it was fantastic. I took one photo before I got told off of a selection of wigs. 

Art Fashion Identity

We also watched a film of Yoko Ono that has stuck in my mind. Not too sure why but here it is.

Finally we went to see Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion. I didn't think this one was as good but the designs were still amazing. Pattern cutting really isn't my thing and the work that must have gone in to them is unfathomable. At first it looked really quite small but it was actually huge. We watched about 3 films on Japanese designers. I might of had a little nap through one after our hectic day of running around London but they were really interesting! Definitely the best bit of the exhibition.

UK manufacturing is reborn

I read Drapers every day. I set it to my homepage so that whenever I go on the internet I have to look at it. Today has rekindled my love for Drapers. Sometimes it gets a bit boring as I'm not that bothered about whose making what profit at this stage in my career. However, the best article I've ever read that was basically written for me! It's quite a long article, but the summary is, they are wanting to bring manufacture back to the UK as it's getting too expensive over seas. So my career as a seamstress is looking even more likely. If you want to read the full article it's called UK manufacturing is reborn.
Here are some stats taken from their website.

30%

Average growth in orders at one UK manufacturer over the past 12 months

“People want to get their clothes produced in England. Retailers are going to come back because they are not happy with the quality from overseas.”

Maggie Apostolou, manager of clothing manufacturer Arenco in Leyton, east London

70

Number of people recruited by one UK manufacturer in the past 12 months

“I would recruit more but there are no apprenticeships which teach true manufacturing skills.”

Mark Purcell, manager of supplier Yusuf Menswear in Birmingham

30%

Average growth predicted for the next 12 months at one UK manufacturer

“We’re growing… we’ve increased our customer base dramatically.”

Tony McNulty, managing director of ATF Textiles, Stafford

£943

Minimum pay per annum for a textile worker in China

SOURCE: Drapers’ straw poll of UK manufacturers

Second Look Into Fur Farming

I had another look into the fur issue. Boy have my views changed. PETA are always branded extremists, but I watched one of their videos and it nearly made me cry. I don't recommend watching it. It's sickening that people can do this in the first place, but for there to be no laws against it just astounds me. So I signed PETA's fur free pledge. I've never owned fur and I never will.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff

Fur Farming

Today I watched Kill It, Skin It, Wear It, a channel 4 documentary aired last year. I thought it would be a good start to my fur research but they avoided all of the series issues related with fur for fashion. The whole thing was 'fluffy' and they painted over the few major issues raised with rainbows and fur in tact kittens. I think PETA will be my next port of call. But it's impossible to know who is telling the truth. You can from one extreme to the other. I think at the end of the day it's down to your morals. I eat meat, although I wish I had the will power to be a vegetarian. But they will never stop killing animals for meat and they could be killed just as inhumanely if not more so than animals harvested for the fur trade. But I'm all for organic and sustainable materials.

Usually the argument for the killing of animals is 'pest control' but can nature take care of itself?

 How can I care so much about who is making my clothes and the pesticides that go into the earth and be unsure of whether or not killing 100 chinchillas for one coat is wrong. Obviously it is wrong. More research is needed I think.

M&S Plan A

Even M&S are on the eco-friendly band wagon. This is a really nice little video of everything they are doing to try and make their company greener. With a company as big as them trying to make a difference it really shows how far being ethical has come. I think it's safe to say the green trend is no longer just passing through.

White Gold - The True Cost of Cotton

I've been watching a lot of videos like this, but this one is great. It's won a couple of awards and is really informative. I had no idea how bad cotton was until I started researching it.

White Gold - the true cost of cotton from Environmental Justice Foundation on Vimeo.

Ethical Fashion Network

Another brilliant website to check out. The Ethical Fashion Network is a website trying to bring together all aspects of the ethical fashion industry. It's somewhere you can go where everything you might need to create, buy or source ethical clothing, materials, makers and designers can all be found under one handy eco roof. They also have a part of their website that is a social networking site. Much like Facebook you can add like minded friends, appeal for help or advice. It really is a great site to look at if you're interested in ethical fashion. And if you wear clothes, you should be.

Fast Fashion

I thought it might be a good idea to find out a bit more of what the general public knows about the clothes they buy. I hope this Fast Fashion Questionnaire will make people think about their clothes and what they are buying. I think I will have a think about the questions and try and ask people outside of Primark for their views. Please feel free to answer the questions, there's only 9 and they're multiple choice.

Ethical Fashion Seminar

Today we had a seminar on ethical fashion. I had already decided to do ethics for my Professional Project so when the poster went up for it I knew it would be perfect. And it was. I found out loads of interesting stuff that I can use in my project.

I like the idea of making a whole collection out of bamboo, it's so soft! I got a card off one of the lecturers who said she could give me a list of companies who I might be able to get off cuts of end of line fabric from. I've always been into ethics, but now I've realised that if I don't go for that within my career then I will have to adapt at some point. Because I genuinely believe ethical fashion is the future and will become the norm. Thinking back to how far we have come since coffee wasn't fair trade and plastic bags were never reused goes to show how far ethical fashion has the potential to evolve.

I decided to film Jodie today making cuffs and plackets. 

Natural Disaster

I finally started my research properly today. I wasn't really sure where to start but once I did it led me on to so many other things. I have decided within ethics I am going to go down a natural disaster route and global warming made worse by dyes and pollution. I'm going to base my final collection garments around this and try to portray a natural disaster through them. Whilst they are going to be completely ethical.

Twitter.. A wonderful thing

Today I received a message from The Green Stylist on Twitter.

Hi Gemma, thanks for the follow. Where is AUCB? I am putting together a high-end line this year and looking for sample makers - Jules

I think she might be from San Francisco but I wrote her back saying I'm in the UK and she asked me to drop her an email to arrange a time to skype and 'discuss our current projects'.

Well after I said I joined Twitter to make contacts I'm pretty happy about this!

Corsetry Workshop

Today we made corsets using a couture method. We got paper and wrapped it up in sellotape. We had to ensure it was super tight to the stand, and then we drew on our design lines. Sounds pretty simple but I think my biceps are bigger now, it was quite hard work. I learnt a few random bits and bobs about corsets, like apparently you should wear a corset 2 times smaller than your dress size.

Creative Pattern Cutting

So we did some creative pattern cutting. I'm not really into pattern cutting and wasn't looking forward to this workshop at all but I had a great time! I made this cowel type thing, but it can be placed anywhere on a garment.

Corsets

Today we made corsets. I had already very recently done this so a bit of a refresher session was nice. I boned the bodice sewing the boning directly to the seam allowance on one half. And on the other half used the casing where you slide the boning in. Initially for the exercise we were making two half bodices to demonstrate these two different ways of boning. I ensured my two halves were two opposite halves so they could be sewn together. But this is why the fabrics are half and half.

First Day Back

Christmas is over and it's back to the sewing machine. We made pockets today and were eased in nicely after our month off. For me it was great because as you know I love sewing. We made two pockets and were going to make a third but I was the only one who wanted to stay so we all just went home. It has really got me in the mood for sewing so I'm going to collate some ideas for the new brief on paper to take in on friday, and then I'm going to make something.

Jeans Pocket

3D Pocket