Do you want a more sustainable wardrobe? But often find items that no longer fit your style? Have you thought about reusing the clothing you don’t wear into something that you would wear? How? - you may ask. In this blog post I will give you some creative solutions to transform old clothing that you don’t find interesting anymore, into something that will spark joy again, without having to buy new. This will help you to reuse what you already have.
“Fashion is created and presented in ways that do not refer to, or imagine, use over time.” (Fletcher, 2016, s. 59). The clothing we see in stores and in our own wardrobe has more than one purpose. The stores show us one purpose: an idea of a garment. You, as the consumer, get presented to this idea of how to use the garment. We might think that this garment only can be used in one way - and maybe that is why we get rid of it. This one way to use it can make us bored or uninterested in the garment after a while. We can change this by being creative with our garments: add to it or repair it. In this blog post I will focus on changing the function of the garment, so that it will be interesting and used for longer than you might usually use a piece of clothing.
You know your garments the best, do to the fact that you once bought them for a reason, as well as have them hanging in your closet for a reason. You therefore might have an idea of how you can change these garments into something that you will use more. “We know them differently because of their liveliness and the endless variation of context in which we experience them.” (Fletcher, 2016, s. 101). The possibilities are endless: You can alter and make or remake your garments into something that you will use again and again. Therefore, exploring your creativity to create a more interesting ans sustainable wardrobe is a great way to become a conscious consumer.
I, myself, do this. I remake my old clothing, when it doesn't fit my style anymore. For example, have I altered a dress to be longer by adding fabric. With other garments I did the opposite by making them shorter. But what I want to show you here, is a shirt. This shirt once belonged to my boyfriend. He didn’t want to use it anymore, and instead of throwing it out I altered it by adding some new fabric. This made the garment fit me. I cut the bottom and the sleeves shorter and instead of the old typical collar I made a new one. The fabric I used to make the new is left over fabric I had from another project.
Another example is the old shirt from my boyfriend’s father. Again, he didn’t want to use it anymore, so I took it in and made it into a dress. I cut the bottom shorter and added a skirt. The fabric of the skirt is an old bedcover. So, instead of throwing it out I made it into something new. I reused the function of the shirt and added to the function so that it would fit me and my style better.
Maybe you are sitting and thinking: I don’t know how to sew. Well, I learned how to sew by by myself doing this, so I bet you can do it as well. Everything started out as a creative flow that I wanted to pursue (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). I wanted to reuse my garments instead of throwing it out. The creativity made me want to try a new skill. And you can too! And if not, you properly already know someone that can - this is a good opportunity to ask them for help. Maybe it can become a creative project that you can do together. “…already proficient makers practice their skills, and less proficient ones, learn them.” (Fletcher, 2016, s. 104).
The fashion industry today doesn’t acknowledge that garments can be used in different ways through out the years. They don’t acknowledge the craft of use that consumers does. They keep adding to the idea of fast fashion, that one garment has one function and one owner. They don’t acknowledge that garments can be altered, repaired or past on to others. “…we need to empathize to talk to people, to develop the skills of anticipation, of rigorous imagination, of noticing, of storytelling, of prototyping new types of behavior and the garments that encourage them.”(Fletcher, 2016, s. 116-117). By doing the alterations and being creative with our garments, we show the craft of use. It just starts with you having a creative idea that includes altering and changing your garments, that you want to pursue. This will in the end create a more sustainable wardrobe, that will participate to a more green and conscious world (Feinstein, 2012).
Bibliography
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Perennial.
Feinstein, J. S. (2012). Unleashing creative development. Kindai Management Review, pp. 132-142.
Fletcher, K. (2016). Craft of Use: Post-Growth Fashion. New York: Routledge.