Researching designs

RÆBURN Parasuit Jacket

The next phase of research is to look at designs and designers that are currently working and whose work might inform my final product. The fabric received from A W Hainsworth (see previous post for more about that) consists of many pieces in a variety of colours, none of the pieces are very wide. So I decided to focus my research on clothing that is made from fabrics that are themselves pieced, and designers who have a sustainability ethic.

RÆBURN is a designer who works with surplus fabrics and garments to make new pieces. (Raeburn, 2022). The jacket shown here made from a parachute canopy, incorporates seams from the original item into the jacket.

Bethany Williams Coat from The Hands That Heal Us collection SS22

Bethany Williams is a London-based designer who aims to have as low an environmental impact as possible – including upcycling fabrics (using organic, recycled and deadstock materials), manufacturing locally, and paying the London Living Wage. The latest collection, The Hands That Heal Us, demonstrates the use of piecing garments from a variety of fabrics. (Vogue Business, 2021)

This coat is pieced from a variety of fabrics, possibly ends of lines from other producers. Many of the clothes in The Hands That Heal Us collection have patches of different fabrics on a plain background, as the trousers and shirt here.

From these two examples it may show that I am interested in producing a coat/jacket. However if it is to be pieced out of the fulled wool fabrics, and blanket waste I have available, a tailored jacket or coat like these is not going to be possible with my (lack of ) dress-making skills.

Stella McCartney, Get Back Panelled Knit Coat

 Stella McCartney is another designer who made a commitment to sustainable practices from the launch of her business in 2001. Whilst the company does not up-cycle to the same extent as RÆBURN or Bethany Williams, it does strive to use sustainable sources for the fabrics. used

This Get Back Panelled Knit Coat unisex garment is pieced using black and white panels knitted in a ‘sustainable viscose’. The coat has drop shoulder seams, is an asymmetric shape, and not all the panels are the same size. The panel blocks have bold oversized designs, with some of the ‘prints’ overflowing the block.

The over-sized look with the drop shoulder design is could be achieved with a fabric made from a number of smaller pieces.

Robe (Victoria and Albert Museum)

Thinking about jackets and coats made from pieced fabrics brings to mind some of the Japanese coats seen in museums, such as this 19th Century robe in The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection.

This garment has been pieced and patched using recycled indigo-dyed cotton. This textile, known as boro , Japanese word boro, meaning ‘rag’, is associated with the process of repairing clothing with scraps. While originally a necessary process for poor people who could not afford new clothes, it has become associated with a style of faded fabrics and raw edges, and the ‘visible mending’ movement.

Susan Briscoe is a textile artist with a deep interest in Japanese textiles, she has written about traditional Japanese patchwork, Sashiko, and most recently the book of boro . This book describes the history and techniques of boro and suggest a number of projects to try out the ideas.
A hanten jacket is a traditional Japanese jacket that was worn for work and therefore often became worn and was repaired with extra patches in the boro way. This modern version of the jacket has been designed by Susan Briscoe to be made from simple rectangles of fabric, which are first made by piecing fabrics together. (Briscoe, 2020)

The jacket is constructed from simple shapes and so it should be possible to construct a coat using the fabric I have. The next stage in this process is to plan how I might do this.

References

Briscoe, S. (2020) the book of boro. Exeter: David and Charles.

London Fashion Week, 2022 Bethany Willams The Hands that Heal us https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/schedule/584/bethany-williams-aw22-the-hands-that-heal-us?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linktree&utm_campaign=watch+bethany+williams%27+aw22+film+%27the+hands+that+heal+us%27 accessed 24th February 2022

Vogue Business, 2021 Bethany Williams offers a glimpse of sustainable fashion’s future https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/bethany-williams-offers-a-glimpse-of-sustainable-fashions-future accessed 24th February 2022