Right: Gary Harvey, 'Denim Dress' made of 42 Levi 501 Jeans Below: 'Newspaper Dress' made of 30 copies of the Financial Times All photos for Gary Harvey: Robert Decelis, Model Tabhita © Models 1

‘ECO’ FASHION The fashion industry is doing everything in its power to make us forget the contradiction between fashion and sustainable clothing. Last year, British Fashion Week launched a “Sustainable Fashion Show”, meaning eco fashion for the successful, in the spirit of, “having a clear conscience has always been a bit more expensive...”

Anyone who has embarked on a search for convincing examples of clothing made from recycled textiles, as I did, will mostly have come across advertising gimmicks.

Nevertheless, we have repeatedly encountered fashion designers who approach this contradiction playfully and with relish. Naturally, an aesthetic approach to a problem will mitigate its perception. Gary Harvey, a freelance fashion trend consultant, creator of new brands, and a trendy designer in the

Below: Gary Harvey, 'Mac Dress', 18 Trench Coats with 'Burberry' check corset Below centre: 'Baseball Puffball Dress' made of 26 nylon Baseball jackets Below right: 'Laundry Bag Dress' made of 21 checked laundry bags, attached to a bodice made from the bag straps

26 TextileForum 1/2011 f ields of communication and youth culture, is a master of this trade. He created his f irst design involving used clothing out of frustration with his bread-andbutter job. Employing the formal language of haute couture, in one instance he constructed a denim dress from 42 worn Levi’s 501 jeans, using traditional tailoring skills, to make a “dramatic statement” as part of a fashion campaign. As he enjoyed this project, he has continued to design similar pieces, for instance a “Mac Dress” composed of 18 trenchcoats in different shades of beige, contrasted with a Burberry check corset and a top produced from a cut-off Burberry mac. His creations were f irst presented at British Fashion Week in 2007 (www.garyharveycreative.com).

I also noted the Polish designer Sylwia Rochala, who tears men’s shirts into rags from which she creates trendy clothing full of poetry and lightness. This winter her designs have been on view at the Berlin Edged Showroom (http://www.the-edged.com), which also represents her work. The designer says that she employs the individuality of worn clothing as a stylistic feature – a reason often stated by people who work with recycled materials (www. sylwiarochala.com). Beatrijs Sterk

Sylwia Rochala/PL: Dress made from pieces of used men shirts, torn in stripes, collection 2010/2011 'Shame and Fortune'

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