Xantha Ward is a local designer in Ohio. We were both nominated last year for a sustainable fashion award, and she won. Xantha and I have also been on a few panels together, and I always love hearing her perspective on sustainable fashion shows as a creative.
Before speaking at a sustainable fashion show I try to find something appropriate from a national thrift store. Last time I spoke, I wore a black cocktail dress that I got for $6 at the Whitehall Goodwill. At sustainable fashion shows I talk about the importance of building community around sustainable fashion and congratulate Gen Z for seeking solutions to the impact of global fashion production on the environment.
These sustainable fashion shows are more like styling shows than creative showcases; they focus more on outfitting rather than design and prototype production. Students, notably from all parts of campus and learning disciplines, curate cool outfits and walk the runway. Kids show up in droves to these events. Participants have spent time thinking about the outfits they showcase. Sustainable fashion shows have great energy, and I love them.
I like this type of fashion show so much more than the fashion shows where designers use actual trash to make outfits. Listen, we practically treat our clothing like trash already, so why do we need to celebrate a corset made of toilet paper rolls when there is fabric readily available instead? Separate from being slightly depressing and dystopian, I don’t see the purpose of the trash fashion shows. To me they’re like creating an ice cream sundae made of cotton balls.
Young adults are working hard to make the idea of reuse and pre-owned clothing aspirational versus the “shiny and new.” Celebrities are not shamed anymore for appearing in the same outfit a few times. Go Gwyneth with your red velvet suit in 1996 and again in 2021. I mean OK, it is Gucci and amazing. But still.
Celebrities rewearing couture outfits is a solid start. But what is also needed is talent in the remanufacture space. This is not where the sustainable fashion industry can afford to hand out participation medals for sad tote bags that (yay!….and uh surprise?) are made from a tired pair of jeans. Solid creativity is needed in remanufacture, in curation, in all of it.
And Xantha Ward is the type of creative that we need. This spring Xantha did a collaboration with Goodwill Columbus and designed a capsule from materials she sourced from Goodwill retail spaces. The capsule was interesting and creative. Hopefully it gets other designers thinking in the same way and celebrating the challenge of embracing sustainable fashion. Let’s keep going.
