An international fashion research project exploring the 'craft of use'

Material resourcefulness

Garments are fusions of materials and energy brought to the body in myriad configurations, yet the dominant force in fashion, consumerism, tends to value only a narrow spectrum of fashion activity. The practices of material resourcefulness broaden this view and show a burgeoning testing ground of an alternative flows of fibre, fabric and product.

Step-in dress

"I’m wearing a local designer’s - I guess it’s a one of a kind - dress. She makes everything to order and it’s made out of a 1950’s floral print tablecloth. I believe it’s bark cloth and I actually saw it in a fashion show I was in and I wanted to wear it so bad but unfortunately it didn’t fit me and so I emailed her… after that we became really good friends. She calls me her brand ambassador. I go to estate sales and I find just old table cloths and crocheted runners which she uses a lot of too. I’ve been collecting vintage textiles for a long time so that’s kind of what gravitated me towards this …I hardly wear it because it’s very colourful and I’m from New York and used to wearing black a lot but I do love floral prints and it fits me like a glove. And you step into it, she calls them step-in dresses and it just zips up and you’re ready to go."

San Francisco - July 2012
Photograph by Paige Green