Make Use is User Modifiable Zero Waste Fashion. Each garment is simple to make, and can be modified in multiple ways to suit changing fashion and user needs. It was developed as part of the Local Wisdom project lead by Dr Kate Fletcher, which examined use practise in the context of clothing. I questioned: what would zero waste fashion look like if viewed through the lens of Use Practice. The instructions for making and modifying the garments in embedded in the digitally printed cloth. http://www.makeuse.info
Stage 2 will explore this concept further, incorporating digital embroidery as well as the digital textile print used in stage 1, and explore the Make Use system applied to self made furniture. There will be an exhibition at ObjectSpace in Auckland in July/August 2015. My collaborators are: Jen Archer-Martin (Space + Object), Emma Fox Derwin (Object), Karl Kane (Graphics), Jo Bailey (Graphics), and Greta Menzies (Textiles). There is also something exciting in the works with NZ designer Lela Jacobs!
I’ve been asked to write a column for the wonderful folks at EcoSalon every 2 weeks. Next article will be available this Friday. It will going into a bit more detail regarding a number of Zero Waste fashion designers. Stay tuned!
While fashion appears to change constantly, this change is primarily superficial. Forms, lines and details are repeated ad nauseam, only occasionally revealing anything new. As a result consumers are bombarded with choices that all look the same. Boredom and the impulse to buy something new rapidly sets in, only for it to feel old as soon as it is worn. Can re-imagining the fashion design process disrupt this or is ‘Fashion’ all pervasive, infiltrating my hands and influencing every line I draw and every cut I make?
Void questions the conventional fashion design process that values 2D drawing and image over cutting and form, and explores what happens when fashion is designed from a ‘blank slate’. At its core the garment is a pliable space for our bodies to travel through that should fulfill individual needs for movement, modesty and expression. However, contemporary fashion is guided by profitability first, while trend forecasters, media and style-makers vet the choices offered, never showing the public what is really available or revealing the realities of the fashion production process. In Void, the contemporary fashion design process is reversed, dealing first with the whole cloth and corresponding 2D pattern and lastly with the body and 3D form, all with a goal of generating surprising but desirable garments that produce no waste. Each garment begins as a textile Tabula Rasa; drawn on, cut and formed to create a void for the body to inhabit. Referencing tradition within the confines of zero waste enables unexpected and spontaneous forms to emerge, exploring ideas of good design outside of the vagaries of ‘fashion’.
See it in person in the upcoming exhibition Evergreen at Object in Surry Hills, Sydney Australia.
This dress was designed as part of The Cutting Circle project and I’m refining it for an exhibition in Sydney early next year at Object. It is a similar approach to WAR / PEACE but with the letters forming all the lines needed. When I drew the first sketch I didn’t have much of a plan as to what the garment would look like and designed it almost entirely on the dressform and sewing machine. Usually I like to be more certain of the design before I cut. I was apprehensive but excited to see what might appear at the intersection between my hand, typography and chance. In the Cutting Circle demo I started to sew the garment up again from memory in a beautiful black silk tissue (dead stock) from the wonderful Global Fabrics. I’ve since been refining the pattern – the sleeve on one side was uncomfortable to wear and makes the dress twist around the body. Many of the features ‘discovered’ in the design process I really enjoy – such as the fold across the shoulders (done initially to improve the garment balance) and the interior ‘tunnels’ (to alter the skirt length) and draped pocket. The overall shape works well and the dress is fun to wear.
For me the biggest questions the design process of this dress raises is the play between risk/chance/serendipity and the controlling hand of the designer. The cut lines are controlled by the letters forming the work RISK – an approach which is undeniably risky. And i didn’t know what the garment would look like even once I had cut it out – what I didn’t know was that it would work. So what is my role as a deisgner? The decisions I made at every point; what shape the work took, which of the lines to cut and which to leave, where on the body I placed each piece, the fabric I used, the way I sewed the garment together, all lead to the final design – something that is both calculated and intuitive. And as such, a different person would come up with a different design from the same pieces.
The phrase “Go back to the drawing board” is something I rarely use. And its not because I don’t draw in the traditional sense of the word It’s because I don’t have a finished drawn design to test through a prototype as such. I design as I prototype – the process is conflated and non-linear. I ‘draw’ the pattern for a half conceived prototype, and resolve the pattern as I make the prototype – constantly receiving feedback from the materials I’m working with. It is a one step ‘design’ process with multiple feedback loops.
I’m very excited to be heading to New York for the first time on the 31st of August. Chris Jackson and me are going thanks to the Textile Arts Center (TAC) to install and open YIELD: Making Fashion Without Making Waste. It opens to the public on the 10th of September and runs until the 2nd of December so if you are in the NY area head to Brooklyn for some zero waste style! There are also two workshops – Timo Rissanen (co-curator and zero waste extraordinaire) and me are running one the weekend of the 10/11th sept and Timo is running another in November at the TAC incase you miss the one in September. I’m also heading to Kent State University in Ohio for a few days to speak with students there about my work that’s in Sustainable Fashion: Exploring the Paradox curated by Noel Palomo-Lovinski, I can’t wait!
In a couple of weeks Julian Roberts and Timo Rissanen are coming to New Zealand for a research project we call The Cutting Circle. We will explore the different approaches to patternmaking and fashion design that we employ and see what kinds of opportunities and collisions of ideas we can come up with. Its going to fabulous and I can’t wait!
As part of this there will also be a symposium with Master-classes, demos and workshops run by Timo, Julian and myself as well as by a few talented staff members from my University, Massey University College of Creative Arts. You can (and should) find out more info at The Cutting Circle Website. You can also Like us on Facebook!
Thought I’d share with you a little thing I’ve been playing with today.
This is a plan for using up the remnants of a piece of fabric (NZ Merino Knit) that I had been using for half scale toiles of zero waste garments. The resulting fabric remnant is irregular in shape so I was trying to work out how to best use it all. The dark grey are the parts of the original fabric that i had used for half scale toiles so are no longer there and I only have the remainder to design the cardigan from.
It is coming into winter so I thought I’d make it into a self lined cardigan with a snuggly collar that is grown on the the back of the cardigan (developed from my mens Embedded suit design that went to Chicago). The plan shows both the cut lines/pattern pieces as well as where they will eventiually go. The darker fill being pattern pieces and the lighter versions of the same shapes are where they will be placed. Once I make it I’ll upload the result – at this stage i am probably 80% sure of how the design will work out.
I am testing out a couple of techniques here (while making myself something to keep me warm) – the grown on collar and nesting the lining and outer in each other – a process that was actually inspired by the zero waste furniture that Chris Jackson and I are testing out. It is really exciting when the benefits of cross-disciplinary collaboration become apparent when working on your own stuff, it not only generates new knowledge in a different field, but also informs your own design work within your existing practice.
This also demonstrates to me the benefits that new technology might have on my design practice. There is only one piece of this fabric in the world in this shape. My next step is make a paper model of it, which helps but doesn’t answer all my questions. And then I have to cut it out of the fabric – if it is wrong there’s not a lot I can do – I can’t re-cut it – so in essence the resulting garment will only ever be a ‘prototype’ unless it turns out perfectly first go – which rarely happens and is why prototypes are so important. If I had access to CAD software capable of testing my design out then I could do so – and while it certainly doesn’t replace the prototyping process, at least it will give me a good idea what I’m doing before I potentially waste a piece of fabric. I am happy to risk creative design outcomes (I am excited to see what this design will show me in response to my ideas) but i’m not happy to waste materials, and digital modeling would enable me to reduce the risk of material waste.
Paper model
While I acknowledge that this specific situation is not something that would ever happen in industry – all cloth should be valued as a material with energy, people and raw materials invested in it, regardless of if it is a one off or not – perhaps even more so if it is mass produced.
habiliments, 2009-2010, Cotton, shell, wool, polyester and metal, Courtesy of Julia Lumsden. Photo courtesy of Thomas McQuillan
Julia Lumsden has recently completed her Masters of Design Degree at Massey University Wellington, developing techniques for designing zero waste menswear which she first explored in 2009 for her undergraduate collection. Her research explores pattern making as a design tool for zero waste garment while still maintaining a minimalist tailored design aesthetic. Julia also aims to use a shorter than usual length of fabric in her zero waste designs, eliminating waste and reducing the amount of fabric required to produce the garment.
habiliments, 2009, courtesy of Julia Lumsden
The jacket seen here explores her zero waste pattern-making – beginning by eliminating/straightening all the curved lines in a classic mens three piece jacket pattern. This was done to test if straight lines made zero waste design easier (as seen is straight cut garments) and also if it lent its own aesthetic to the final design. This was achieved using the ‘Alterations Menu’ in the CAD software Gerber and she continued to use this software to develop the pattern to eliminate waste. Once the pattern was laid out in a marker in gerber, pieces were overlapped in places where removing a section of the jacket would not be detrimental to the fit. The negative spaces were then incorporated into adjacent pieces creating normal shaped pattern piece but with additional ‘tabs’ extending from the pattern piece. Once resolved the garment pieces were cut out and when constructing the tabs were folded to the interior and top stitched down creating subtle detailing, shaping and reinforcement. The resulting Jacket is moth minimalistic and highly detailed in parts – the fit and aesthetic harks back to a classic Dinner Jacket.
habiliments Jacket Pattern, 2009, courtesy of Julia Lumsden.
The other garment in YIELD is a zero waste mens shirt which was developed as part of a range of mens shirts all using zero waste goals. The shirt once again refers to a formal style similar to the dinner jacket, with a bibbed front and a ‘bow-tie’ effect. It is key to Julia’s design practice that the final garment look like a traditional shirt in many ways – it was important that the garment be ‘approachable’ by not just the fashion forward men out there, but by everyday guys also – something i feel she has succeeded in.
habiliments, 2010. Courtesy of Julia Lumsden
The pattern for this shirt was developed through a complex process of modifying a standard contemporary mens shirt pattern using techniques she identifies as Piecing, Blending, Nesting, Merging and Creating – helpfully giving names to the techniques that many zero waste designers use everyday. Identifying and naming these techniques was a key part of her masters project and gives other zero waste designers a language we can use and add to.
habiliments shirt pattern, 2010, courtesy of Julia Lumsden
Both the Jacket and the Shirt are exquisitely crafted garments, finished to a very high standard. The pattern making process she uses leads to some complex construction in order to finish her garments to the standard she expects, which she then resolves beautifully. The striking aspect of Julia Lumsden’s garments is the degree of aesthetic refinement apparent in her work when operating within the confines of zero waste pattern design. Achieving results which are contemporary, original and totally wearable.
Julian Lumsden has very kindly made the patterns for both shirt and jacket available for free download here
habiliments 2009-2010 as seen in YIELD. Photo courtesy of Thomas McQuillan
Silk Crepe de Chîne Wrap Dress ‘Chinese Squares’, Chinese Collection Spring/Summer, 1980, Collection of the San Diego History Center, Gift of Lucretia G. Morrow, Copyright Zandra Rhodes
Zandra Rhodes studied printed textile design at The Royal College of Art in London. In 1969, she took her collection to New York where it was featured in American Vogue. Zandra was UK Designer of the Year in 1972 and by 1975 founded her own shop in London. Her clothes were soon worn by the rich and famous including Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Diana, Princess of Wales. Awarded nine Honorary Doctorates and a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II, Zandra has been institutional in setting up London’s Fashion and Textile Museum. Today, she continues to clothe the rich and famous with collections sold around the world. Zandra also designs sets and costumes for opera as well as licensing her name for various products.
‘Chinese Squares’, 1980, Copyright Zandra Rhodes, as shown in YIELD:NZ (photo Thomas McQuillan)
The piece shown in YIELD: Making fashion without making waste is titled Chinese Squares. It is a beautiful example of a textile leading the garment design, with the pattern being cut around the hand painted square motif so as to not disrupt the painted lines and form.
Textile Print and Pattern for ‘Chinese Squares’, Copyright Zandra Rhodes
The resulting garment is both simple – being constructed essentially from a series of squares, and complex – with open pleated sleeves and an ornate print. It wraps around the form of the body without side-seams and hangs languidly in silk crepe de chine. The pattern for Chinese Squares is very close to zero waste, however the selvedges appear to have been removed. The design references historical ‘square-cut’ garments in particular the way the sleeve/body is arranged. Pieces removed for fit around the neckline and waist are reinserted to form the wrap-around mechanism at the waist.
The garment looks timeless in person, although it was made in 1980, and is in almost pristine condition. The garment was generously loaned to The Dowse Art Museum by The San Diego History Centre for YIELD and it was donated to them by Lucretia G. Morrow. It is part of the Chinese Collection from Spring/Summer 1980 and other examples of how the same print was used by Zandra can be seen below.
Zandra Rhodes "Chinese Lantern" sleeve defined and determined by the textile printZandra Rhodes Chinese Pagoda Garment, 1979, (Photo by Angela Carone)
Zandra Rhodes work in YIELD acts as an anchor, as although it is not the earliest example of zero-waste fashion it remains eminently accessible and beautiful despite being made over 30 years ago and the respect for cloth evident in all her work is plain for all to see.
Make Use is User Modifiable Zero Waste Fashion. Each garment is simple to make, and can be modified in multiple ways to suit changing fashion and user needs. It was developed as part of the Local Wisdom project lead by Dr Kate Fletcher, which examined use practise in the context of clothing. I questioned: what would zero waste fashion look like if viewed through the lens of Use Practice. The instructions for making and modifying the garments in embedded in the digitally printed cloth. http://www.makeuse.info
Holly McQuillan 