What can I do in the future as a designer?

Throughout my research I have thought about the effects myself and other designers are having on the planet. I want to take inspiration from the designers I have looked at and try to ensure I tell a sustainable message by using nature in my future practice.

My suggestion to draw more attention to the issues I have looked at during my research is that we should use social media to make sustainability in fashion a more powerful talking subject. I think if brands made their clients aware of what they were doing then more people would take notice. I also think that if celebrities shared an image of themselves in a sustainable outfit then more people would see it as high fashion, and if sustainable fashion then became a lifestyle, people would make a positive change, not only to nature and the environment, but also to the fashion industry.

Conclusion

Through the survey, I have researched into people’s views of sustainability within the fashion industry and understood how the industry is to progress in order to make it fully sustainable.

McQueen was also one of the key designers in conveying strong messages to the audience about the effect fashion is having on the planet. Through catwalk performances, he questioned what fashion would become with technological advancement, and used it to show an audience how this could help deliver a sustainable message.

Hamnett has a different approach to McQueen, but found empowerment in the most used piece of nature in the fashion industry, the cotton plant, to show what devastating effects it can cause. She uses her passion for saving the planet with fashion and has collaborated with H&M, who has become a business model for the fashion industry to follow. 

Stella McCartney is leading the way in giving back to nature with collections that have limited impact on the environment. Nature is at the forefront of her design concepts and helps her to be innovative and unique. Her platform is huge; collaborations with other brands will only help her to display a stronger sustainable message.  

Christopher Raeburn has also displayed a powerful sustainable message through collections that aim to show the effects humans and fashion have on nature. This is seen through the repurposing of fabrics and using comparison imagery printed onto fabrics that show how the earth is deteriorating with climate change.

Christopher Raeburn

Christopher Raeburn is a designer who has been implementing sustainable practices for many years. He is the founder of Raeburn and also a creative director for Timberland. He has collaborated with many big brands including Moncler and Barbour and has won many awards.

Within his business Raeburn, he is ‘dictated by the 3 R’s Ethos: Raemade, Raeduced, Raecycled. This is reflected in his collections and his innovative design work. His work is often design-led first, ensuring the materials are the correct balance for his sustainable collections.

In his Spring 2019 collection, Raeburn focused on climate change and the ‘disappearing world’ using white arctic jackets to represent the melting of ice caps. These jackets and other coats were branded with fashionable belts with ‘Reduced, Remade, Raeburn’ printed on them, to help show the seriousness behind his collection and campaign.

Raeburn also sees overconsumption of clothes as the biggest threat to the planet and therefore stands against it and helps lead a way for a more sustainable and responsible fashion industry.

Stella McCartney

Stella Mccartney believes in ‘creating pieces that are not going to get burnt, that are not going to landfills and that are not going to damage the environment.'(Lolli, 2015). Her forward thinking approach to design is at the forefront of her collections, ensuring the resources used to create have limited impact to the environment.

An example of this is one of Stella McCartney’s most recent collections Spring/Summer 2020. For this collection, 90% of the cotton was organic and 100% of the denim was organic or up cycled (Newbold, 2019). The bags were created by female artisans in Madagascar that are working to fight deforestation which compliments the theme of McCartneys collection of powerful women, past, present and future who has inspired her. She has also used recycled polyester, sustainable viscose and traceable wool which created tailored pieces.

Spring/Summer 2020 Collection

Stella has been successful in her work due to her designs being so stylish and not sacrificing this for sustainability. She also recognizes that high-end luxury houses, and then the fast-fashion sectorcan have a massive impact in a negative way but in turn can also have a massive impact in a positive way. 

Examples of her work include:

  • Creating Viscose from sustainable forests in Sweden
  • Using regenerated cashmere, made from factory scraps that are shredded and respun into new yarn, and focuses on alpaca to create wool.

Alexander McQueen Part 5

McQueens, thirty-third Spring/Summer collection named ‘ Natural Distinction, Un-Natural Selection’ saw a catwalk of models walk amongst a ‘stuffed assortment of endangered species’. McQueen would pull much inspiration from nature and once said ‘Everything I do is connected to nature in one way or another’. The fabrics pulled the collection together, with printed cloths that looked like tiger stripes of reptile skins.

Alien like bejeweled bodysuit for ‘Natural Distinction, Un-Natural Selection’

His Fall/Winter 2009 collection ‘The Horn of Plenty’ showed how McQueens mind was entering un-known fashion territory and was starting to explore and create things that had never been done before. The invitations sent out for this show, featured a women with a plastic bag on her head and there was a installation of a pile of rubbish on the stage. The show aimed to show how financial markets had crashed as well as the environmental and economic markets. Recycling was at the forefront of the show, using old show props for the pile of trash and used soda cans for headdresses.

Magpie printed dress for ‘Horn of Plenty’

McQueens last collection for Spring/Summer 2010 named ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ was McQueens forecast of ‘the impending ecological meltdown of the world. Predicting s time when the ice caps would melt…the waters would rise…and life on earth would have to evolve in order to live under the sea or once more perish’ writes Fox (2012). Vibrant colors took over the runway, in a form of reptile skins. But it was this show that saw McQueen withdrawing from the world as he described ‘ For me, Atlantis is a metaphor for Neverland.’, but McQueen couldn’t find a sanctuary and took his own life.

Digital Snake print dress for ‘Plato’s Atlantis’


Alexander McQueen Part 4

In 2007, McQueen lost an important piece of his past, Isabella Blow. In her remembrance, he had a jeweler put a lock of her hair into a ring and went to a number of psychics to try to contact her. She was buried in an red and gold brocade McQueen dress. Her enthusiasm, creative vision and beauty was vital to McQueen becoming who he was and the collections he was creating. With all of McQueen collections there had been an ‘Britishness’ about his designs and he often saw Britain as the best place for inspiration. Isabella Blow was not only his closest friend but also his perfect customer and a source of ‘human inspiration’ for McQueen. His Fall/Winter 2006 collection ‘Widows of Culloden’ was dedicated to Blow. McQueen collaborated with with Phillip Tracey for headpieces, another great person who Blow introduced McQueen too. The collection was based on the Battle of Colloden and there devastating affects it had on the troops.

Cream Silk Tulle and Lace Dress for ‘Widows of Culloden’

Neilson, one of McQueens closest friends and a lady who wore McQueen regularly, would head off on holiday with McQueen after his autumn/winter shows to celebrate their march birthdays. Fox (2012) writes how Neilson recalls ‘It was on those trips that we went diving…and this was where he found inspiration for his last shows, with hall those vibrant colors glowing like exotic fish at the bottom of the ocean. He saw another world deep in water, one where he was at peace’.

Alexander McQueen Part 3

His collections continued to display brilliance, and in his collection ‘Irere’ Spring/Summer 2003, he merged pirates, birds, history and nature to tell the fable of ‘The Mission’ by Roland Joffé. Through a series of different screens presented to the viewers, models showcase relevant garments, from pirates and drowning women to mysterious creatures.

The Oyster Dress for ‘Irere’

McQueen attacked the celebrity culture by producing the collection called ‘Deliverance’ which was a ‘tribute to red carpet glamour’. He often refused requests from A-Listers who would love to promote his brand and clothes. McQueen quoted ‘I can’t get sucked into that celebrity thing, because I think it’s just crass’. This led to greater material and expansion for the McQueen brand and in 2004 he introduced a menswear range, handbags, scarves, fragrance and eyewear.

Alexander McQueen Part 2

McQueens clothes were aimed to empower women, the structured shoulders and cinched in waists showed off the female silhouette and the outfits together gave a look of hardness, which when combined created a powerful look.

The London shows that McQueen would produce were ‘intensely dramatic’ and soon became landmarks for Fashion Weeks. His garments almost became art installations with one collection ‘Joan’ 1998 featuring models who looked like satanic serpents. He also had a huge interest in showing people that beauty is in everything, even the things we don’t see as beautiful. In one of his shows he created a spectacular finale where Shalom Harlow wore a white dress which was painted black and yellow by Italian robots which showed McQueens thoughts on the ‘dehumanizing commercialism at the heart of his industry’ – Fox (2012).

Robots spraying a dress for ‘No.13’

One of McQueens most powerful attack on the fashion industry was his collection ‘Voss’ in 2001. This show made the audience look at themselves in large mirrored boxes making them objects. This box became two-way glass and models were revealed to be in a psychiatric ward where they were being driven mad by their own reflections. The models were in an array of garments, beautifully put together with natural objects such as razor-clam shells and feathers.

Razor-Clam Shell dress for ‘Voss’

Sarah Burton started in the early days, when McQueen started to build his brand, as an intern. But as the brand grew and Burton joined after graduating in 1997, McQueen relied on her to control and commercialism his ideas. In order for his collections to exist, McQueen had to vision the end show where his collections would be shown. He was inspired by everything and mood boards and fabric choices would need to be put together in order to create a starting point.

Alexander McQueen Part 1

Alexander McQueen would often draw on his heritage and genealogy for inspiration for his collections, but he also had a passion for birds, water and the outdoors.

McQueen designs were always imaginative and technical, but he wanted them to be a high standard of refinement and craft declaring ‘Designer Fashion shouldn’t be throwaway’… ‘I want to create pieces that can be handed down, like an heirloom. I want people to get joy out of clothes again’ – Fox (2012). His work was more than clothes, he was always trying to convey messages through a craft. Isabella Blow, his unofficial, PR, stylist and muses quoted ‘ He is the only designer to make his audiences react emotionally to a show…be it happy, sad, repelled or disgusted’ – Fox (2012).