RACHEL CLOWES
EVERYDAY WAS SPECIAL / TATTOO DRESSES / DARK STORIES / TEXTILE SAMPLES / NECKLACES / DRAWINGS
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EVERYDAY WAS SPECIAL / TATTOO DRESSES / DARK STORIES / TEXTILE SAMPLES / NECKLACES / DRAWINGS
I believe that clothes should be active in the role for which they were designed: being worn. Keeping something for a long time, but not wearing it, is not sustainable behaviour, it is simply storing waste within the wardrobe.
I discovered a high level of waste, in the form of inactive special occasion wear, within women’s wardrobes. Inactive clothes may have been previously worn or never worn, but they are judged unsuitable for either current use or disposal, and so hang passively in the wardrobe. These clothes represent wasted resources, energy and labour, as well as the wasted potential to bring joy through wear. Inactive garments also increase consumption by necessitating the purchase of additional clothing to be worn in their place.
Everyday was Special attempts to bring inactive clothing into active use through the creation of evolving textiles that allow a narrative with the past, are appropriate to the present, and grow more personal into the future. To meet this aim, I developed organic bio-plastic sequins coloured with natural dyes to adorn special occasion wear. The life span of these sequins is appropriate to the average use of special occasion wear: two or three events. These bright sequins are designed to shimmer at special occasions before melting away to produce new colour and pattern, utilising existing materials whilst retaining joyful memories. Everyday garments emerge that celebrate the ephemeral as they become enduring: everyday clothes that were once special clothes.