PARSONS CHALLENGE: SUSTAINABILITY

For my Parsons Challenge, I decided to skip the physical objects that lay around me unnoticed, and  instead focus on the issues going on in the world right now, funneling them into a medium I could understand: clothes.  Unfortunately, I really wasn't able to find anything that hadn't been shoved in my face by FOX NEWS that I felt could be interesting enough to make something out of.  However, one day I was looking through my friend Hugh McIntyre's clothing line, Something Used--which donates money to special causes for every t-shirt it sells--and came across a shirt that paid to "prevent 1,000 pounds of carbon pollution from ever existing".  Now, I didn't like the shirt (although I bought every other shirt in the collection) but the idea made me research more into his small company.  Turns out he pays off all of the carbon pollution that his shirts create.  This made me think--what effect does fashion have on the current environmental crisis?  That's when I discovered sustainability and with it, my Parsons Challenge.

1. Waste Not (Even when it's really ugly.)

100% Polyester Stretch Satin, 100% Polyester Print Organza

In the process of attempting to redecorate our house, my mother went looking to replace the white lace curtains in our living room in order to find something to match our new couch.  Unfortunately, these were two of the fabrics she bought.  After I convinced her that neither of these were attractive choices, she finally gave up on the idea and kept the white curtains.  Personally, I think the white curtains are very pretty.  Either way, we ended up with several hideously ugly sets of curtains.  But instead of throwing them in the trash, I figured I could make clothes out of them--after all, fashion seems pretty obsessed with ugly prints, lately.  So I whipped this up over the summer, and upon choosing sustainability for my Parsons Challenge topic, I realized that this could fit in really well.  I draped this on a form with my friend Erica's measurements in mind, and found that these two fabrics really made me think of Renaissance era gowns when I put them together--contrasting the ugliness that they had as separates.

2. Paper or Plastic? (No, really.)

Plastic bagging, 100% recycled paper, paper shopping bag, 100% organic cotton linen shirt(not my creation)

When I was a freshman in high school, I used to work at my local supermarket as a bag boy, and probably asked "Paper or plastic?" somewhere in the realm of an infinite number of times.  After asking, I'd occasionally strike up a conversation about how paper was better for the environment, and the customer and I would complain about how plastic bags had no real purpose after they were used.  Except to pollute the environment, that is.  I quit the supermarket at the beginning of my sophomore year, and never gave the issue much thought afterwards, until I started working at Gap during my senior year.  One day, I was ringing a customer up, and she said she wanted a plastic bag, and I asked "Even though paper is better for the environment?"  She then proceeded to explain how supermarkets had begun setting up bins for plastic bags to be recycled, and, after confirming this myself with a rare sojourn to the market, I started to wonder--now which is more environmentally friendly?  This skirt-suit is my question, just in fashion form.

3. Go Green: EXTREEME

Pine needles, Bodice and skirt support made from old, recycled t-shirts (tank-top model's own)

Okay, yes, I spelled "extreme" incorrectly, but I figured that the fact that the skirt on my dress (pictured here) is made of pine needles would make it some sort of rather adorable pun.  Anyway, when I started thinking about my last challenge garment, I decided I wanted to do something actually using a plant to represent eco-friendly fabric.  However, I also wanted to keep in mind the need to remain fabulous--as several green fabrics are quite dowdy and/or dull, in my opinion--which always means "texture" in my mind. However, then I started thinking about how such a thing would reflect the current economic status of the country; after all, it would have to be affordable and appropriate.  So I thought and thought and thought, and came up with nothing.  So I looked out my window (which I've found helps everything make sense) and found myself staring straight at my pine tree, which was layered like a flapper dress, which I last year learned were popular during the Great Depression era.  I got inspired.

Love ya,

Samuel Joseph Donovan