Fashion has long been associated with profligacy and luxury, but now is the time to witness fashion that is ethical. The new exhibition “Fashion Ethics: Wear Good” at the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, flawlessly portrays ethical fashion. The exhibition displayed fashion that incorporated materials that are eco-friendly, recycled and organic.
Bags, clutches, accessories and clothing collections were all a common sight at the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art. A Paris-based Brazilian designer named Ana Paula Freitas showed chic handbags, clutches and accessories under her “fair trade” collection. Workers at Brazilian women’s labor cooperative handcraft all the bags and accessories, and the work provides them with the means to improve their lives. The bags are made by using hundreds of pieces of aluminum can tabs.
British designer Mark Liu’s creation incorporates a “zero-waste” concept. His clothing line uses eco-friendly materials with the zero-waste concept, wherein the garments are designed in a manner where there is no provision for wasting fabric during pattern cutting and sewing. Liu’s collection had several beautiful black dresses with petal pattern designs.
Another team incorporating the principals of ethical fashion was Orsola de Castro and Fillippo Ricci from London. Branded under the name “From Somewhere,” their high-end women’s wear line uses consumer-waste fabrics. Next on the list is Hong Sung-wan’s men’s wear collection by designer Lee Kyumbie, which uses only fair trade cotton fabric from Nepal, Bangladesh and India. He also displayed his women’s footwear range using recycled packaging and banners, and one of the popular design was a cool pair of boots covered in a ramen-packaging design. Hong Kong’s Movana Chen’s clothing line made from knitting shredded strips of glossy magazine paper was also an eye-stopper in the exhibition.
Though ethical fashion is seen gaining popularity in Europe and the United States, hopes are high for it to be recognized globally.