RETURN OF THE CONSCIENCE COLLECTIVE x #REWEARIT!

18.4.16


Hallo meine Lieben! The Conscience Collective is BACK! I know, I know, its about bloody time. Well, what have you missed: I've had a little munchkin, who is about to turn ONE in a few weeks and Emma H is now fully busy with several social enterprise initiatives in Trinidad, as she empowers local communities and artisans with her two platforms--Turtle Warrior & RACKEDTT--so The CC will now be led by me, Stacy H. The blog is still undergoing a revamp, but in the meanwhile, I thought it was necessary to get the posts going again, especially as this week marks the anniversary of the Rana Plaza Factory Disaster. Today also marks the start of Fashion Revolution Week and H&M's World Recycle Week. As a result, for the entire week, I will be looking at both initiatives and what they mean for fashion, social justice and humanity as a whole. I'll be talking about why I stay away from the high street, for the most part, and take you with me as I go into H&M for the first time in nearly 10 years. 


This week's post highlights one of my many outfits composed of recycled and repurposed clothes. This one is taken from a trip to Jüdisches Museum in Berlin. It wasn't until I was there that I realised my outfit might have been a little too fitting for the museum.
The headscarf was made by my former partner in crime (but still my partner in crime), Emma H., from a dress she shortened, the shawl was once a rug repurposed into one of two shawls. The shirt is one of my husband's old work shirts which he was about to tear into rags to clean his bike (the madness!!), and the coat is actually Emma H's, which I wear whilst she is in Trinidad, and I bought my shoes in a charity shop a few years ago brand new.

I love finding new treasures from old or unwanted goods, and as this week is meant to highlight the backlash of fast paced consumerism within the fashion industry this love becomes even more meaningful. This is not to say that I do not buy new clothes, but since 2010, I have made it my goal to only buy clothes that bring forth an ethos of consciousness, fairness and sustainability. It has been hard, and bloody expensive, which is also one of the biggest issues with "ethical" fashion, as it also isolates most of the fashion industry's consumers--can we still call that ethical?. Yet, my, your, our fashion revolution can start small by just digging through one's closet and rewearing, repurposing or recycling one's clothes. It can start with making your clothes a bit more meaningful, or purposeful, and hopefully, this blog will help you get to that point.

Thank you for coming to the Conscience Collective, and let the revolution begin.

Walking through Menashe Kadishman's installation titled Shalekhet (Fallen Leaves) in the Memory Void, one of the empty spaces of the Libeskind Building in the Jewish Museum. Over 10,000 open-mouthed faces coarsely cut from heavy, circular iron plates cover the floor.

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2 comments

  1. Extremely interesting to see someone so young recycling old things, especially clothes. Thumbs up to you as you continue your journey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awh! Thank you. It is very important that I do so.

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