FASHION ON EARTH
BRISTOL CATHEDRAL // NOVEMBER 2024
We are critically disconnected from our clothing, how it is made, its natural source and the many hands each garment passes through before it reaches us. All the resources that cloth our bodies come from this Earth and how we choose to care for and use such resources plays a significant role in planetary health.
All clothing comes from the land. Farmed, grown, extracted, picked and cut - your clothing begins in the ground and should return to the soil at the end of its lifecycle.
FASHION ON EARTH invited you to reflect on the relationship you have with your own clothing; to consider how connected you feel to the place and natural resources that are intrinsically linked to the garments you wear; and to imagine a fashion production future wholly connected to and respectful of the natural world.
THE FASHION ON EARTH CATWALK
Set to the backdrop of the voices of the Oak Choir, we had a runway of slow fashion, with a selected number of outfits inspired by our theme of Fashion on Earth. With style curation from Lauren Reed and a team of student volunteers from South Gloucestershire & Stroud College on hair and make up.
Pic credit: Trevor Carty
Pic credit: Trevor Carty
Pic credit: Trevor Carty
Pic credit: Trevor Carty
Pic credit: Trevor Carty
The evening finale saw a showcase of the One Dress: PLANET from the TAMMAM .
A collaborative couture project that connects creators and consumers, and challenging the way we buy fashion. Instead of selling many replicas of one design, as regular fashion collections, the project offers the opportunity to customers to own a small piece of one couture gown. Small embroideries of diverse plant species, from different ecosystems and environments, endangered because of human destruction, can be purchased and added to the evolving garment. These bespoke hand stitched embroideries, made by artisans who are credited alongside the owner on the One Dress register. Revealed for the first time as part of London Fashion Week at St James's Church Piccadilly, this impactful piece has been created to start conversations about ecocide and the need for legislation to protect our planet.
GARMENT EXHIBITION
We exhibited 12 featured pieces from a range of designers and makers seeking to create an alternative fashion system. Each piece showcased the beauty of natural fibres, dyes and the joy of upcycling, demonstrating how fashion can place the health of the planet at its centre.
The exhibition was designed and created by Emma Clucas.
Emma worked with us across 2024 to coordinate the makers and designers who took part, to help give shape to the event as a whole and to exhibit these beautiful pieces on their bespoke frames.
A cropped denim jacket and skirt made from scrap denim remnants, vintage denim jeans and a repurposed quilted duvet cover.
A naturally dyed bamboo “silk” kimono and an upcycled linen dress dyed and hand painted and a naturally dyed and upcycled linen dress.
Jacket and a pair of matching trousers of reclaimed reclaimed patchwork quilts, second hand offcuts and notions made from natural products.
Linen denim jeans made from UK grown flax and naturally dyed with oak galls and iron water. All material was sourced and processed within 150 miles of the project centre to create the bioregional cloth.
Made from re-worked army overalls and reclaimed fibres.
Naturally dyed, printed and embroidered kimonos. Hand embroidered with naturally dyed silk yarns.
Indigo dyed wrap scarf, grown, spun, knitted and dyed in the South West of England, in a 50 mile radius from Bristol.
Harvest light top, crafted from repurposed materials including a secondhand communion gown & silk organza strike-offs, with hand embroidery.
Knitted wool gilet of Devon Closewool yarn grown at Lower Hampen Farm in Gloucestershire, made by Ossian Knitwear.
A kilted skirt naturally dyed with weld, chestnut wood shavings and avocado skin, painted on with an iron modifier.
Credit: Worn to Threads
Credit: Wear My Wardrobe Out
MAKERS’ MARKET
A selection of SFW affiliates and other makers and independent designers joined us on the evening.
THE POEM CARDS
We selected a handful of poems that explore clothing, and our connection to it, in different ways. We shared these poems in print on the night, inviting attendees to talk to each other throughout the evening to swap the cards with the others to find a favourite!
Credit: Oak Choir
OAK CHOIR
Oak Choir is the epic new community choir lead by Bristol musician Rachael Dadd. Oak stands for Of All Kin and is run with an ethos of inclusivity and diversity, where joy and wellbeing are held above perfection. The songs celebrate nature and community. They are rich and grounding like roots and earth while simultaneously stretching open wide to the sky and the stars.
INFORMATION STALLS
Information on a range of topics relating to living and consuming more sustainably was available at the event - giving practical tips on places to source organic and certified fabrics and learn more about local initiatives taking place from the following organisations:
