Eco Fashion World

SUSAN CIANCIOLO

‘Reduce, Revalue, and Rethink’ has become the eco fashion mantra in NYC this past week with the opening of “Ethics + Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion” at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery on November 19. This is the first American exhibition to investigate the sustainable practices of contemporary American fashion designers, several of whom are based in New York City. Bodkin, Alabama Chanin, Loomstate, SANS, SUNO NY, Uluru, and Andrea Zittel, are just a few of the eco fashion labels, designers, and artists the exhibit highlights as thought-provoking examples of sustainable fashion on the cusp of even greater change.

ULURU KATHLEEN COAT

“Ethics + Aesthetics” is guest curated by Francesca Granata and Sarah Scaturro. Granata is a fashion theorist and independent curator completing her Ph.D. in fashion history and theory at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. She also lectures at Parsons The New School for Design. Scaturro is a textile conservator at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and an adjunct instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC.

BODKIN FRACTURE DRESS

The exhibition’s curators conceived of “Ethics + Aesthetics” as a way of further examining the newly established practices of incorporating recycled, renewable, and/or organic fibers into contemporary fashion, often in conjunction with fair labor and ethical production strategies.“ While the concepts of recycling and using organic materials are quite familiar in fashion, we are seeking to broaden the definition of what constitutes sustainable fashion by exploring ideas such as modularity, minimalism, and memory,” said the curators.

ALABAMA CHANIN REVERSE APPLIQUE

Design inroads such as waste reduction via pattern-making, versatility achieved through modular and reversible garments that employ streamlining and multi-functionalism, and emotional engagement linked to history and memory are all innovative approaches to broadening sustainability’s current definition and long-term effectiveness. Unique artistry, handcrafting, heirloom, and slow design principles also make a showing as evidence of our day-to-day connection to clothes and the new sustainable networks that we wish to create and share.

Ethics + Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion” is on view at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery from November 20, 2009 to February 20, 2010.

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