FASHIONING TEXTILE FUTURES
Final Major Project
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Fashioning Textile Futures was my final major project at university, the key themes were emerging material innovation, sustainable and circular design methods, sustainable fashion, and engaging textile surfaces. The project was fuelled by my disbelief in the lack of engaging sustainable fabrics available for fashion applications within the textile industry. I was enthralled by the emerging collections seeping out of the fashion centres from around the world, they seemed to be so expressive, daring, and challenge previous concepts of fashion. However, when I looked at emerging sustainable collections, I felt many did not spark the same visual joy as those that championed design over sustainability. The focus of many sustainable collections was the fibres used to construct the garments. In response to this, I wished to create fabrics that were balanced in sustainability and design, capturing the flair of emerging fashion trends with the necessary focus on sustainable fabrics. Through attending a workshop lead by kea university, I was able to access methods of innovating biodegradable materials that were created within the principals of green chemistry. This innovation approach amalgamated science, cooking, and design, using easily accessible and naturally occurring ingredients.
Initially, I tested a wide range of bio-material recipes with varied outcomes. As I grew to understand the process of using green chemistry, I was able to champion design elements when crafting the materials. I focused on encompassing colour, texture, and pattern. Within my sample development, I incorporated other elements of circular design into the bio-material innovation process, using excess textile waste that was found within the university fashion and textile workshops as a design tool.
The collection of bio-material samples was compiled into styled garments, using excess, flare, and expression as keywords to inspire garment construction. I also drew inspiration from the baroque period. Particularly focusing on key fashion design elements from that period as inspiration for styling the samples.
Due to the embryonic nature of the bio-design sector, the documentation of the material tests I carried out during the project was vital for the future development of the materials. I created a simple resource in the format of a recipe book that documented each experiment. The book was designed to be shared within the bio-material community and further to aid the development of biomaterials and allow a wider audience to engage with bio-material innovation.
