'Design things that are not finished, things that can keep on being repaired and altered; things in motion'

-  Cameron Tonkinwise in Shaping Sustainable Fashion by Alison Gwilt & Timo Rissanen.

'Revalue' revolves around becoming an Agent of Change, examining the issues of consumerism and environmental concerns within the fashion industry. It seeks to offer an alternative method of fashion production and consumption, reacting to our 'throw-away' society, which results in a huge over-abundance of rejected used textiles.

Gwilt and Rissanen propose in Shaping Sustainable Fashion that charity stores only keep 25 percent of clothing donated; meaning 75 percent is either sold to rag traders or textile merchants, or sent to landfill to decompose. This capsule collection is upcycled from second-hand furnishings and fabric remnants - sourced from second-hand stores - to challenge perceptions of over-consumption and value within discarded textiles and clothing. The true worth of otherwise waste-materials is realised, through which one-off garments are produced.

The expected ideals of beauty and perfection within clothing are questioned via elements of a symbolic 'decay' of techniques, celebrating beauty within imperfection. A selection of hand-intensive techniques have been used, such as smocking, embroidery, fraying and heat-set pleating, in order to re-value rejected objects through very human and time-intensive processes.

The birth of 'Revalue' comes from the theory of embracing disruption and disturbance as a fundamental design principle. This encourages an elevated acceptance of the damaged, imperfect or repaired as being beautiful and desirable. It is through the hand-techniques of smocking, embroidery and fraying that these garments have the ability to be altered by their users, without the beauty of their aesthetic being lost. Fletcher and Tham state that "experience with mending first hand rewires our consumer brain" - it allows us to build a deeper connection to our clothing and consumer actions.

Photography - Liam Jemmeson

Model - Stephanie Wake

2015

This body of work was in response to the annual competition 'The Big Idea', run by not-for-profit social enterprise The Big Issue, aiming to cultivate social innovation amongst a disadvantaged group. 'Adapt' centres around creating social change amongst women over the age of 55 at risk of homelessness, through upskilling these women in the relevant areas of sewing, pattern-making and design.

As its primary focus, 'Adapt' examines how upskilling the garment construction process has the potential to influence fashion design practice through simplification. This collection divulges innovative design solutions surrounding geometry, simplified construction methods, alternative closure techniques and high-quality finishing processes.

As a secondary focus, this collection embraces the changes female bodies of all ages endure over time, and seeks to provide a versatile and inter-generational approach to wearing and sharing clothing. Through a foundation of largely geometric pattern bases, forms of garment adaptability have been incorporated - such as wrapping, folding, tying and elasticising to facilitate a shared wardrobe. These processes not only allow for adjustable fit, but also offer multiple ways of wearing. 'Adapt' incorporates constructions that can revise to inevitable figure fluctuations, yet still remain beautiful on the wearer - so to avoid the discarding of garments if the body alters in size or shape.

Photography -  Lauren Alyce Thom

Model -  Amelia Larosa

Clare for iMute Magazine

Photographer - Jasper Hede

Styling - Jam Baylon

Hair and Make Up - Kat Bardsley

Model - Clare Walker

Assist - Eve Oswald