A Five Piece Avant-Garde Mini-Wardrobe Presentation of Re-styled and Up-cycled Fashions by Colorado Springs Designer Aaron Graves.
Look 5 (inspired by Innocent series)
Cotton batiste dress in 3 tones of white. Dress is made from a reworked pattern and vintage fabrics. It features a repurposed detachable collar. Dress is worn over a vintage pink slip for this show, but can be easily put over any garment the wearer prefers.
Current size: fits sizes 2-8
Price: 175.00
The concepts of up-cycling and restyling may not be new, but they are beginning to trend again. In the late 1800’s through the 1940’s it was not uncommon to send older garments to various fashion houses or tailors to be restyled into current looks. Over time this changed as ready-to-wear fashion took over, eventually leading us into what we now know as Fast Fashion.
This movement has impacted everything from environment and waste to creative burnout of designers. Many are expected to make up to twelve collections a year. This has sent shock-waves throughout the industry such that in recent years a whole generation of new designers are looking for alternatives as they seek to create sustainable clothing. Many are making a return to the archives of design houses to rework existing looks from previous collections. This is where my work comes into play.
I’ve tailored for a number of years and frequently rework and alter clothing for clients. I was really excited when I was invited to contribute those particular abilities to this exhibition. Essentially a mini wardrobe, this capsule collection of five unique looks were each fashioned solely by restyling existing secondhand and vintage clothing, embellishing them utilizing fabric remnants from other projects.
I’ve also mirrored certain elements from “The Clothes We Wear” exhibition into the clothing designs, most noticeably the color palette of red and black, as well as textural embellishment through the use of threads. Beyond the practicality of utilizing re-styling and up-cycling to create a cohesive collection of clothing, this work also seeks to bring back to contemporary design the artistic element of couture handwork. The result is something avant-garde, yet still very wearable with an emphasis on personality and style.
