Anything but clothes

Why do we celebrate Earth day? It only happens every April 22 and then passes without us even realizing it. Although the day sound trivial, I think we could have made it more entertaining and fun. I recall Earth Day 2009, I was on the bus and I saw a pretty dress made out of.... trash bags and candy wrappers? Even though I could not take a picture of it (unfortunately) it was beautifully designed that I had to take a second look at it to make sure it was what I thought it was. The skirt was made of Twix and Three Musketeers candy bar wrappers and the body was made of a black trash bag with the candy bar wrappers made into a faux jewel in the center.

I know we are all pretty familiar with the infamous Anything But Clothes party, although I wasn't until I looked it up on Google. I found that it is a pretty popular college themed party and as the name suggests, you can show up dressed in anything but clothes. That dress reminded me of an ABC party. Imagine coming to school dressed in something made of things we throw away or take for granted. The whole point of an ABC party is to be creative, right? Well, I thought to myself why do it for a party when you can do it for Earth Day?

During Earth Day, most of us do little things as pick up trash or turn the lights off for a few hours. Why not make a fashion statement by showing up wearing a blouse made of duct tape and pants made of trash bags? Sure, they're not the most fashion forward but as we have learned in our ASA 189B class if the society as a whole accepts it and begins wearing it, then it becomes fashion. The good thing about making clothing items out of every day things, the ideas are endless and so are the materials. You would not have to spend large amounts of money for those Rock & Republic jeans that the "fashion forward" are wearing.

I know everyone wants to be a trend setter like Coco Chanel, however she is quite famous for her lifestyle (Kawamura 68). She did not know much about clothing production (Kawamura 64), so she heavily relied on her seamstresses and tailors (Kawamura 68). Unlike Madeleine Vionnet and Madame Grès, Chanel's name still lives on. Although ironic (since Vionnet and Grès who were both trained), it seems that people who have ideas and connections can make clothes. Honestly, anyone would make a definitely fashion statement dressed like they got dressed in the dark. I'd definitely accept anyone who'd wear trash bags and duct tape, creative and inventive... I love it. Imagine how much money you'd save and one day... those luxury designers would follow suit.

Resources:
Image: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1126/525419741_593349d5a4.jpg?v=0
Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/418123902_4f55d22125.jpg?v=0
Kawamura, Yuniya. Fashion-ology. 2005.

Christine Erfe blog #1