the perfect wardrobe

The perfect wardrobe. The ultimate combination of style, quality, versatilely, comfort and function. It's an elusive concept that is the obsession of many.

Because surely this would be the ideal, instead of that overflowing closet in the corner of your bedroom, stuffed to the brim with unworn impulse buys and bargain low quality garments that are yet to see the light of day, leaving you surrounded by a sea of clothes but standing helplessly in your underwear whining "I've got nothing to wear!" To have ownership of a selective collection of a few interchangeable items; a consummate capsule wardrobe to erase the prospect of any future outfit planning dramas. Would this not be better?

So why is it that we still insist on hoarding mounds of odd garments, investing in whimsical trends over key pieces? Is it because we're restless? Indecisive? Greedy, even? Probably. And while the concept of the perfect wardrobe, curated and engineered to maximise use of a small number of simple and versatile items and minimise effort and waste, is more than a little attractive, at what level of order and regulation would the satisfaction of organisation overpower this incessant need to buy buy buy?

But does the perfect wardrobe even exist? I wonder whether our tastes for fast and fleeting fashions have banished the possibility of reaching a stable state of content with our wardrobes. There is no sort of guide that I am yet to come across that can tell you the means of forming such a thing, of tailoring your wardrobe to fit your personal needs. There is no equation to help you solve the optimum number of different trouser styles to own; no map to help you discover the required types of dresses to have.

What is there to say that the ownership of the perfect wardrobe is a tangible state?

Perhaps there is no such thing as the perfect wardrobe after all, just a Gatsby-esque dream that is hopelessly pursued, where the point of achievement lurks behind our consumeristic natures, lingering forever slightly out of reach.

impurity

As promised, here are the pictures of my garment.

The title for my concept was "Impurity".
Through my research I was exploring different interpretations of the word, both abstract and literal: traditional notions of virginity and purity as well as physical chemical impurities like smoke.

From there, I used photoshop to design my print, which was then printed onto fabric using a digital printer (literally like a huge scale ink printer for fabric - it was pretty awesome).

After a couple of scrawled designs, trial runs and mental preparations (those industrial overlockers are pretty darn scary), I started to make the dress.

As soon as it was finished, it was whisked away to the photo shoot to be worn by the gorgeous Nicola and shot by very talented Viva.

So, Ta-Daa, here you have it.

sketchbook

I've spent the last couple of weeks at arts summer school in Bournemouth, taking a course in fashion design.
I've been focusing so much on educating myself about the other side - the manufacture and consumption part- of the industry, so it was really interesting to look into the initial development stages of the clothes that we wear.

I learnt so much: about how the design process works, how to use an industrial overlocker, how to use photoshop to design prints...

I also learnt that living by yourself loses its novelty after you've had stir-fry for five nights running, that you are never too old for collaging and that there is no problem that an Oreo milkshake cannot solve. 

Over the course we picked an overarching concept, then researched around it before refining our findings into designs. Then we generated a digital print and made a garment, which was modelled and shot at a photo shoot at the end of the week. 

you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for the photos - they'll be up soon!

My concept was "Impurity".

Here are a couple photocopies of my sketchbook - I hope you like them. 

before & after: hangover shorts

Nothing says "adios school" and "hellooo summer" like a good old DIY. 

The baggy and relaxed fit of UNIF's 'Hangover' shorts definitely caught my eye when I saw them in Mika's video here. 

So, naturally, I was on the hunt for the second-hand denim to DIY myself some. And when I stumbled across this pair of shorts whilst scouring the East End Thrift Store there was no doubt in my mind that they would make the cut. 

(Pun totally intended.) 

Snip snip. 

everything must go

Designer, illustrator (and general master of all creative fields) Alex Noble is up to his old tricks again. 

This time, they take the form of a brand-spanking new and uber cool ethical fashion initiative by the name of Everything Must Go (EMG).

The appropriately named label is pioneering a new means of ethical and sustainable fashion, sneaking the leftovers of many high end brands, and whipping them up into scrumptiously inventive garments.

Not only is EMG injecting a new lease of life into would-be obsolete scraps, but all the proceeds are set to go to charity. Oh yeah, they also look pretty-frickin-awesome. Win, win, win.

The exposition of Cycle 1, the first phase of the project, is just around the corner and excitement is swelling for what EMG has to offer: this stage will consist of Salvage T's, featuring a medley of cut-offs from many a big name (Giles Deacon, Zandra Roades and Louise Gray to list a few). 

The funds from this cycle are being donated to TRAID and Childhope to support the amazing work they do in Bangladesh.

So, if you're keen to back EMG and get your hands of one of their Salvage Ts, tag along to their pop up shop at:

 1 Silver Place

 London

W1F OJW 

Which will be open from 25th July for 10 days. 

And if you're not London-based, never fear - you will also be able to find them on their website. 

#dontletbeautygotowaste

Pretty cool, huh?

how's it hanging

A tidy closet = a tidy mind, right?

Colour coding is always pretty satisfying
even if the other three corners of my room are an absolute tip.

You know what else is satisfying?
Erry-thang hanging here is self-made or secondhand.

Ethical high-fives all round.

a fresh start

I'm aware that my last post left the fate of this blog a little ambiguous. 

Recognising that I was running a sort-of fashion blog with a growing dislike of the foundations of the fashion industry put me in an odd predicament - one that left my curser hovering over the dreaded DELETE BLOG button on more than one occasion. 

But the reason I refrained from that fateful click came with the realisation that my little corner of the internet gives me a chance to talk to people about the matter at hand:

The fashion industry is (a) a pretty cool and versatile place but also (b) pretty sucky when it comes to ethics.

But the super duper awesome thing is that we - me and you - can make a difference.

I'm not suggesting we all just throw caution to the wind, throwing out all our old clothes and commit to wearing hessian sacks all the time, but from now on, i'm making it my aim to be more style-concious, ethics-aware and sustainability-mindful. 

I'll do this by:

Supporting ethical and sustainable retailers

Buying second hand (or third...or fourth...)

Making my own clothes

"Make-do-and-mend"-ing old clothes
Trying to learn more about the fashion industry and how it works.

I want this blog to be a marriage between ethics and fashion. 
So if you are interested by either one, or both, please stick around. 
I'm very excited (like bouncing up and down on my chair kind of excited) to share it with you.

So, yeah. What i'm trying to say is:

Welcome to the new, now-slightly-ironically-named-in-light-of-my-recently-voice-environmental-concerns Bleached Mort.

(somehow Certified Naturally and Ethically Dyed Mort doesn't have the same ring to it)