The Second Dirtiest Industry in the World

In our fashion class, we do a lot of talk on sustainability in fashion and how big of a polluter the fashion industry really is. We read today an article, called It's the Second Dirtiest Thing in the World—And You’re Wearing It on alternet.org that summed up the disastrous impact the fast fashion industry has on our environment. The cotton used in clothing takes an enormous amount of water to grow, and synthetic materials release dangerous chemicals into our atmosphere. The boats used to transport these raw materials to factories, and then from factories to retailers pollute our water. Then at the factories, women slave for long hours in unhealthy conditions for minimal pay. Then, consumers buy these products for dirt cheap, only to throw the garments away after a couple washes. These garments then end up in the landfill, in an endless, broken cycle.

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Our Collection's Story

Our collection, called "Roses N Thorns" is our take on the "good girl gone bad" cliche. For our mood board, we tried to choose models and celebrities who appeared wealthy and nonchalant. We wanted models dripping in diamonds with a "don't care attitude." Our colors and materials are strictly limited to black, white, denim, blush, and nude. We have lots of leather and lace that we're going to be basing our collection off of. Our designs are feminine, with an edgy twist. We are also considering a menswear look, which will have the same "rich kid" vibe. We want our line to be very wearable and appeal to fashion forward women and men in their early 20's. On our mood board we have select lines from "Bad and Boujee" by Migos that we thought conveyed a wealthy and careless attitude. Because we are making our designs from thrifted materials, we don't have lots and lots of fabric to create layered looks with lots of pieces as is common on the runways lately. Even oversized coats will be a little unobtainable. Therefore, our collection may not have the same level of careless vibe as we intended, nor the sense of wealth. What was most important for us to remain intact was the femininity at a juxtaposition.

Savers field trip

Yesterday my class took a field trip to Savers to shop for our upcoming fashion show. We split up into groups of four to create lines of 3 to 4 garments made entirely out of thrifted materials. My group's theme is "Roses and thorns," and our palette is made up of black, denim, and blush. We wanted to give kind of a wealthy, bad-girl/boy attitude, and so we have leather, gold chains, fur, and bling. We also have lace to emphasize the femininity of the blush. Shopping at a thrift store is awesome because we were able to find high quality vintage pieces for very cheap. I'm so glad the popularity of thrifting is on the rise because the fast fashion industry is terrible for the enviroment and also unethical. Thrift stores remind us that clothing is not disposable. When you want to change up your look, there is no reason to not reuse and instead bring new clothing into this world that is already over saturated with garments. Even at Savers, which is a huge store, they get so many pieces of clothing a day they only sell about 10% of it.

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Fenty X Puma by Rihanna FW17

I LOVED THIS SHOW!
If I could only wear one line for the rest of my life, it would be this one. Each look was in-your-face, but comprised of bold but totally wearable pieces. The university theme was done perfectly down to every last detail; the models even walked on runways that looked like desks, complete with lamps and textbooks. I though exaggerating the school theme was the perfect way to bring out the punk schoolkid side of Rihanna's line, which is what made it stand out from her other more sporty seasons. The looks, while not for the faint of heart, were on trend, with bold orange and yellow, puffers, draper jackets, crop tops, oversized hoodies, and joggers. The punk plaids though made it not even feel like athleisure. These looks are definitely ons you'll be seeing on tastemakers everywhere. The attention to detail even came down to the soundtrack, which featured actually good music, like MIA, Radiohead, and Die Antwoord.

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Nina Ricci Paris FW17

I absolutely loved Nina Ricci's show! I had never heard of this line before, but now that I have, I'll be sure to keep an eye out. I ended up watching this one because the bright baby pink suit in the thumbnail caught my eye. It was difficult to catch a central theme; Guillaume Henry seemed to blend 1700's pirates, cowgirls, and 70s and 80s vibes into one posh and wearable line. He was able to keep a huge variety of silhouettes cohesive by keeping each look relatively monochromatic. At first, it seemed the color palate would be the same muted tones we've become accustomed to seeing on the runway, but he finished the line off with the most beautiful bright pinks, a refreshing sight for sore nude-filled eyes. The makeup was on trend too with monochromatic burgundy. Prints were limited but intentional: An exaggerated allover star print layered over cowboys was basically a "heads up" in case any viewers didn't catch the cowgirl theme. Large sallow looking faces on dresses with Renaissance neck ruffles braced the watcher for the bright pink to come. Overall, I thought this show was a perfect balance between art and lifestyle wear. I can't wait to see these garments on every fashion blogger!

https://www.ninaricci.com/en-INT/Ready-to-wear/winter-2017

Anniesa Hasibuan

Anniesa Hasibuan is not a new designer, but there's been a lot of buzz about her after her NYFW show back in February. Her show was light and feminine, with conservative styles that work with her religion's dress code. However, her line seems easily wearable to everyone, even women who don't follow conservative dressing. 
What's got everyone buzzing is her decision to cast only models who are immigrants or second-generation Americans. Although exclusive, I think this is awesome to show how much of America is made of immigrants, and how much we need and appreciate them. Each model also wore a hijab, which although might raise some controversy, I think is awesome to show the beauty of the hijab, and how it can be an expression of religion and not a sign of oppression. 

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Garment Construction Project

For second semester project, we had to create a garment of our choice using a pattern. The only rules were that it had to be made with woven fabric, have buttons or a zipper, and have pleats or darts. Other than these requirements, we were free to alter and create any pattern of our choosing. I chose this Butterick pattern with shorts and a matching bustier.

I loved the retro style with the tropical floral print, so for my project, I chose a similar print in a baby pink.
Here are the finished shorts, and I have yet to make the bustier:

The shorts ended up taking way longer than I expected! Cutting out the fabric and the general assembly, including the zipper, took no more than three days, and I thought I was right up at the finish line. But then hand sewing the waistband, fitting, attaching the hook and eye, and hemming, ended up taking over a week! It shows how tedious sewing clothes really is, especially if you're aiming for quality. The fast fashion industry has disrupted the value of clothes, because the prices do not reflect the amount of work that really goes in to making a finished garment.