This book has helped me contextualise a lot of key points regarding sustainability natural inspiration, and resources that have shaped the current fashion industry. In this post, I’m going to be reflecting and analysing the information from the book and how it has adapted my perspective and viewpoint. The book covers the modern fashion industry to 1600-1800 with different chapters by different authors. In this post I will discuss what information stood out to me and analyse these factors in relevance to the modern fashion industry. What stood out to me was the historical documentation of Biodesign and working. Some of the premise for the material was to create cheaper production costs, but most of the practices included a lot of inspiration from nature as their resource. One garment that stood out to me in particular was the cellulose dress which is shown in fig ____. I’ve recorded my thoughts and perspective on this in my sketchbook. The book showed me how natural forms and discoveries were translated into households and design, as education in 1600-1800 was a privilege. Understanding how nature and its documentation were published and shared really took my interest as due to travel, economic, social or political factors, this affected society from not knowing or exposure to nature, which is a very dull reality.
1600-1800:
Most common knowledge focusing on botany and zoology was called philosophical transaction this was often studied and practised by upper-class men. Herborizing focuses on observing and gathering specimens located in fields and natural environments. This was often practised by religious and local societies. This era opened up sources of new materials and enabled previously unrecorded flora and fauna to be documented and shared. All clothes in this century were hand-sewn by family members, servants and hired seamstresses. Linen was a wardrobe staple; archaeological evidence suggests that linen fibres have been made from flax for about 34,000 years. Flax benefits from rich soil, humidity, and close planting to encourage height. Britain imported raw cotton, yarn, and cotton cloth. Britain had few fur-bearing animals in the quantities required by the trade apart from rabbits. A lot of furs were imported from Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltic. The falling number of the European beaver (castor fibre), which was used principally for felt hats, led the British and french to compete to secure new supplies in the north of North America. Both countries set up trading companies to buy pelts from the native Americans who understood the local ecology, were skilled trappers and could survive the harsh winters. Men and women from the highest level of society wore beaver hats for riding and walking. Natural resources such as ivory, mother of pearl, and tortoiseshell provide important finishes to a
Joachim Wichmann, 1670-1680’s, The Whale Fishery. Engraving, c.1683, Peabody Essex Museum fashionable appearance. By 1800 the processes that supported the fashion industry and its rising demands for raw materials were beginning to have an impact on the environment and some animal populations. Public disquiet about pollution from the textile industry can be found in the newspaper. Social and aesthetic concerns about the spread of industrialisation, particularly in areas of natural beauty, were outweighed by the fashion industries’ economic benefits. Non-conformists, particularly methodists, condemned cruelty to animals and argued that domestic and wild animals alike should be treated humanely. Images of whale fishing often include a whale’s bloodied corpse, but their perspective is anthropocentric. They celebrate the courage of the men who risked and lost their lives, braving dangerous seas and cruelly bitter weather to bring home products. At home, the textile industry’s dependence on water impacted the environment: many of the finishing processes of textiles caused water pollution. Retting flax stalks to break down the woody parts in pools or streams caused the fibre to putrefy, producing a pungent smell. Dyeing caused the most damage because of the chemicals involved. In this era, the exploitation of non-renewable global resources still produces a minimal impact on the environment due to fashion being persevered for small elites and transportation making no use of fossil fuel. Natural inspiration is so bountiful and has finished us with endless varieties of subjects, which only want to be well composed by a bright imagination and an artful hand.
- Fossil fuel still proving to have the largest environmental impact on the fashion industry
- Nomadic communities who live a sustainable lifestyle provided natural resources of fur, including beaver, to western seamstresses, providing a unique perspective of exploring how nomadic lifestyle observe and understand their local landscape
- The environmental concerns were always there from non-conformist collectives but, in this era, were not considered due to the start of industrialisation and globalisation at the start of the fashion industry
- At this stage, the fashion industry is tailored for the upper classes of society, providing a limited but rural demographic for the industry.
1800-1900:
In the nineteenth century, new methods of transport, cheaper books and periodicals allowed middle and working-class people to learn about natural history and enjoy the countryside and its flora and fauna. This had been motivated by the railway network expanding in the 1840s. Searching woods, hedgerows and rock pools, collecting shells, fossils, seaweed, and wildflowers, and identifying and preserving them became popular hobbies for which women’s fashion was lamentably ill-suited. The Zoological Society gardens in Regency Park, which opened up to the public in 182, were popular with tourists and London families. The Natural History Museum in exhibition road (1881) offered other ways of encountering animals, principally through taxidermy. In the nineteenth century, British fashion continued to be led to the taste of the royal family, nobility, aristocracy and those eligible to attend court. These groups were collectively described as ‘society’. Regional newspapers across the country reprinted extracts about the latest styles from the periodicals, potentially reaching readers who could not afford or did not wish to subscribe to the original source. Many clothes were still handmade. What was different by the late nineteenth century was the scale, organisation and marketing of ready-to-wear menswear. The growth in ready-made clothing was facilitated by the falling cost of textiles as the industry merchandised. Improved methods of pattern cutting, the adoption of new technologies such as the sewing machine (commercially procured from the 1850s) and band knife (1860). In the 19th century, cotton was worn by every social class, replacing linen. Among the working class cotton is considered wool. To expand with colour with clothing iridescence, found in certain birds, beetles and shells, were highly prized. Pineapple cloth was described by Delphine de Girardin (1804-1855) was described as “white, smooth and shiny with the freshness transparency and brightness of the purest wave of water”. The infrequent reference to pineapple fibre in the newspaper of the time suggests that its role in European fashion was slight but further research may uncover more evidence of its use as an exotic fabric. The production of artificial silk from chemically modified cellulose in the last two decades of the century. Count Louis de Chardonnet (1839-1924) produced the first man-made fibres in 1884. Although initially successful chardonnets, silk was highly flammable. Iridencenyt was particularly admired, mother of pearl, the feathers of certain birds and the vivid metallic wing cases of the jewel beetles (Buprestidae) owe their shimming colours to this interaction. Dedicated to the empress in 1856, this fashion movement seems to have launched a fad for utilizing small birds like hummingbirds, tanagers, swallows and robins to decorate dresses and millinery that led to the death of millions of birds. Fur garments demonstrated the impulse to control and manipulate nature to make it more ‘useful’, ‘beautiful’ or ‘rare’. The fashions themselves were ostentatious and were offensive and unethical to those who condemned cruelty to animals and blood sport. The formation of societies such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA, 1824; from 1840, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and the Society for the Protection of Birds (1891). While pressure groups formed to counter cruelty and protect bird and animal populations, the continuing industrialization of Britain caused significant air and water pollution. This was exacerbated in centres with a high density of people and industrial activity that used fossil fuels to produce heat, light and power. Coal containing high levels of sulphur generated sulphur dioxide emissions and made the rain acidic, gradually corroding stone and harming vegetation. The dependence on coal also caused significant problems with waste. The public interest in ferns is widely attributed to the Wardian case: a miniature greenhouse designed by the amateur naturalist Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward ( 1791 – 1863) in which to grow and transport plants. Fern cases quickly became fashionable in middle-class homes. Ferns has several attractions as indoor plants. They are not seasons, need less light than flowering plants and their many variants encompass a fascinating range of forms and textures. The popularity of the fern plants led to widespread damage of fern habitats, polling and upsetting the natural balance of the countryside.
- Starting off, the working class became more educated through popular hobbies of exploring natural environments from the railway network. The National History Museum also contributed to this public knowledge for the benefit of tourism or interest.
- Regional newspapers advertise small extracts from ready-to-wear subscriptions for people who can’t afford the publication or don’t wish to subscribe
- sewing machine (commercially procured from the 1850’s) and band knife (1860) invented and used in commercial process (faster production time)
- I find it interesting to understand the appeal of working with iridescent colour for design, the creation of this colour scheme is quite inhumane for this time period, often found in certain birds, beetles and shells were highly prized. The colours were highly desired and contributed to the appearance of wealth. Inspiration from the colour palette is human showing the admiration of the natural beauty but then deconstructing the ecosystem is just ruining the preservation of that species through working nature into fashion.
- The perspective of animal cruelty being negative and commending it to the cruelty of animals was at a higher notion than ever. Groups such as (SPCA, 1824; from 1840, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
- Fern’s case encourages households to forage natural ferns and flowers to display as decoration, an influence of flowers and greenery acting as interior decoration
- Pineapple cloth, an exotic natural fibre in relevant to waste products for modern biomimicry, could be an avenue to explore
1900 – 1990:
Immediate forms of commercial interaction have become accessible due to new and faster methods of travel for goods and people. Expansion of man-made fibres integrated into the industry as they allied chemistry with textiles. The 1938 Holiday with pay act was a breakthrough in social legislation encouraging all social classes to explore the tourism industry. In the 1920s and 30s road transport developed to motorbuses, coaches and cars, affording access to the countryside; in 1939, two million people owned a car. At this stage, cars were not associated with air pollution. Radio and television played a role in encouraging the public interest in the British/ global landscape and natural history through broadcasts from Sir David Attenborough (1926) and Desmond Hawkin (1908-1999). Using spoken word, sound, and film to bring nature into the audience’s homes. During the interwar period and into the 1950s, at an imagination level, in writing on the countryside and visual arts, the rural landscape was mythologized as the antithesis of the modern urban landscape. The regularity of the seasons and traditions of the land were interpreted as a symbol of stability. Americanization of British culture moved rural life, equating it with ‘Englishness’ or what being English meant, rather than the national political identity. ‘country’ fabrics include tweed, knitted sweaters and waterproofs. Royal fashion continued to be covered in the press but was of relatively minor interest until Lady Diana Spencer’s (1961-1997). Until 1910 pars had only one boy wearing couture and ready to wear. Youth-oriented fashions of the 1960s drew international attention to London and its vibrant and iconoclastic fashion, art, and music scene. The restructuring and regulation of the textile and clothing industries by the government during the war, in order to ensure supply control and prices, set new standards for british manufacturing, benefiting its post-war development. In the 1950s and 60s, large-scale manufacturers built sizable modern factories in areas of low female employment and labour costs, such as South Wales. Mainstream retailers such as Burton were threatened on several fronts: its core customers were ageing, the sale of suits had declined in favour of casual wear, and imports of menswear were rising. It responded by expanding its womenswear division, making Topshop. Silk, wool, cotton, and linen were used throughout the twentieth century. During the Second World War, silk was so rare that even heavily damaged silk parachutes were salvaged for clothing. The belief in the health-giving properties of will inform its foundation. Dr Gustav Jaeger (1832-1917) observed that ‘nature hath clothed the animal, man clothes himself’ drew attention to human responsibility and the wisdom of learning from nature. During the 1970s and 80s, British Knitwear designers came to the fore once again when hand knitting returned to fashion. The 1960’s and 70’s saw revivals of many inter war fashions. They include vogue for fur, reptile skin and leather. Both periods valued the materials for their perceived glamour, eye-catching ostentation and erotic connotations, as well as their texture and markings. Tony Costello, thought the snake skin owed their appeal to their exotic origins and patterns and integrated human ideas about snakes whose attributes – their power, stealth and grace – humans admire and fear. Man-made materials started to emerge in the 1900’s with the commercial production of cuprammonium viscose (Cupra), Viscose yarn and cellulose acetate. Rayon is a biodegradable material that started manufacturing in 1905. Its raw materials are wood pulp, caustic soda, carbon disulphide and sulphuric acid. Elsa Schiparelli (1879-1973) particularly liked the material with interesting textures, such as rayon crepe with a crinkled effect called ‘tree-bark’. The first generation of man-made plastic was produced from chemically modified materials found in nature: vulcanite and ebonite from rubber (1843); celluloid from cellulose, exhibited by Alexander Parkes (1813-1920) as ‘Parkesine’ at the international exhibition in 1862 and improved by Jhon Hyatt’s (1837- 1920) 1870 us patent; and casein from milk curds or skimmed milk, patented in 1899. Celluloid heels, buttons and beads were common products of the plastics; cellulose acetate and the next generation of plastics offered safer alternatives.
As public concern about pollution increased in the 197’s and 80’s, the textile industry took note. In 1992, after many years of development, Courtaulds launched tencel, a cellulose fibre made from plantation-grown sustainable softwoods, whose manufacture drew on an innovative and environmentally friendly organic solvent spinning process. Helen Storey, who was the first British fashion designer to be invited to trial the fabric, created the first commercial examples of its use. Economic factors, which reduced the price difference between man-made and natural fibres and a swing back to the fashion of wool and cotton, dramatically reduced consumer demand for synthetics. The environmental impact of producing semi-synthetic fibres should not be underestimated. The manufacturing processes involved in producing some forms, such as cellophane and viscose rayon, can release toxic chemicals into the environment and can have an adverse effect.
- A lot of social change in the government suggests the interest in more social issues by society feeling like their voice is beginning to be heard
- Early bio innovations with works from cellulose and casein. With my work, I’ve found a lot of historical biomimicry practices; my main focus has been on nomadic innovations due to their regenerative circular economies amongst their communities. Interesting to see the exploration in a Western context. Natural materials are still being used combining them with lots of chemical ingredients can result in the fumes being toxic. In comparison to the nomadic innovations, it’s more regenerative and natural than western biomimicry.
- Mainstream factories and employment rising, leading to more economic growth from all classes and businesses leading to more income for people in poverty, improving living and product conditions.
- Animal materials are still being worn. Often these products were bought or inherited from the upper classes. Alongside this, the socialist arguments for animal rights confronted the materials used by the fashion industry.
- Natural beauty and environments shared in the development of radio and television, this motivated the interest in natural landscape for desired holiday location, mindfulness and educating lower classes on the ecosystems and locations.
- Rising development of transport, including more cars, motorbuses, and coaches, with no link to environmental decline
1990 – present:
Christian Dior (1905 – 1957) And Alexander Mcqueen (1969-2010) were directly inspired and often obsessed by the natural world. Dior’s flower women and mcqueens splendid hybridized creatures are a prime example. The difference in the brands provides the ultimate comparison between the designers: Dior is abundant yet controlled like his carefully tended garden; McQueen is a moment of impossible beauty that dies away, signifying the brutal, exhilarating life in the wilderness. Nature provides the source for each garment that we choose to wear as our second skin. Prior to the mid-twentieth century, the earth experienced approximately 12,000 years of stable climate during which human civilisation developed. Since then, the effects of the industrial revolution, the striking acceleration since the mid-twentieth century of carbon dioxide emissions, rising sea levels, global extinction of species, and the transformation of species, and the transformation of land by deforestation have led experts to assert that we are now in the age of the ‘Anthropocene’. This is the era in which human activity has been identified as the main driver of profound environmental changes to the earth. The uncomfortable truth is that because fashion is indeed made from nature, its current industrial practices gobble up staggering quantities of water, chemicals, and fossil fuels, degrading the land and the diversity of nature’s species while belching out 1.9 billion tonnes of waste per year. Resources are stressed to the extent that if we continue on our current path, demand for water by 2030 will outweigh supply. Herbert Simon (1916-2001) said, ‘to design is to devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones’. The call for fashion companies to share the history and origins of their products with customers is getting louder. Openness in relationships and practice requires ‘transparency’ and, to verify the provenance of a piece, ‘traceability’. Building social resistance, connecting communities and encouraging conversations where divisions are rife. Recent events in Europe, the USA and elsewhere show a need to find new ways to overcome a growing disconnection. Fashion’s social practices are personal and professional: it’s sharing economies exchange skills, garments and economies exchange skills, garments and knowledge, connecting through making, as may trigger Holroyd’s (1979) ‘keep & share’. These words chime with the approach of designers who are weaving ecological thinking into their design practice, whether through drawing on biomimicry to find nature designed solutions to our complex nature designed solutions to our complex problems or through taking a place-based perspective to create fashion grounded in the assets, both human and natural, that thrive within a particular location. Asos and Net a Porter both opened their virtual doors in 2000, evidencing the gold rush effect of fashion’s rapid response model and the rise of online shopping. A vivid example of the fast fashion model was seen during the launch of Primark UK stories in 2007 when shoppers were seen trampling each other to get in. Each fashion movement, market and ethically led, increased their momentum. Designers and students are taking radical approaches to resourcefulness, from turning orange peel or pineapple leaves, food industry discards, into fibre to producing fabric from mycelium (mushrooms) and algae and creating biomaterials, including bio fur. ‘a time of great turning’, from an era of self-destruction to a life-sustaining society. A study by Nielsen UK in 2015 found that 66 per cent of people surveyed were willing to pay more for sustainably and ethically produced products, up from 50 per cent in 2013.
- Designers in the modern fashion industry have gained inspiration from flora and fauna as well as delivering a message through natural collections and garments
- The first example of a fast fashion model is from the opening of Primark in 2007. In regards to online fast fashion, this started to emerge in 2010
- Brand transparency is an emerging concept for consumer loyalty
- Wartime motivations like make-do and mend have started to reappear in our mindsets for sustainable clothing