Redress Design Award 2019
I participated in and was awarded 1st prize in the Redress Design Award, an international sustainable fashion competition based in Hong Kong.
I created a collection made out of reclaimed textile waste that aimed to communicate the conscious or subconscious eco-grief we feel at the destruction of the natural systems that support us, a destruction that is happening by our own hands.
The clothing represents a group of futuristic mourners who have survived the collapse of contemporary civilisation are grieving the loss of a healthy planet and of humanity. Their clothing is influenced by the knowledge pieced together from what was saved from the ashes of humanity, referencing mourning dress and death gods from around the world, witches burned at the stake for their knowledge of the natural world, activist groups that fought to prevent the end of civilisation and ancient craft techniques.
This collection is influenced by memento-mori symbolism to emphasise that time is fast running out when it comes to climate change and that we must act now – in the same way that traditional memento-mori remind us that life is short and we must cherish it and focus on what really matters to us.
Photography Katie Allen
