Photography: Calvin Lom
Digital ecosystems are social and interactive and therefore potentially increase the way that people exert influence and power. My own success with it is a case in point. My experience is telling me that this is where the important conversations are taking place, where new notions of change may rise and occur. In this time of uncertainty and very fast movement in technology there are wide open spaces of the not yet known that one can wait and see what fills it or be the one who creates something that fills the gap, until the next one comes along. For me my interaction with environments and others occurs first in real time and then transforms into an idea or thought that i express in a digital conversation that may or may not involve words. So for me the mapping becomes what kinds of conversation is it important to have now and with whom should I be having them?
My question to you becomes:
What kinds of conversations would you like to have about and in the fashion ecosystem (using the broad definition)?
After the heady days of campaign shoots, newspaper articles and traveling far and wide, life has once again settled into an easy rhythm. In the last two months I have been to China, London, Lisbon, London again and Madrid. In a recent post I spoke about my yearning and need for an interlude so that I might reflect. Perhaps most important is thinking about how to make this project not turn into a quick moment of fame but rather a sustainable enterprise that fulfills my desire to express my creative self, allows me to influence and be influenced by fashion as a system and shares a framework for others that supports them in creating opportunity in any system if they wish to.
One of my first reflections is how collaboration with others and transacting with different environments in and of itself becomes self-organizing for me. This entire project has just been about me putting myself “in” a particular environment, in my case fashion, and seeing what happens. This makes me think about the word ecosystem. Ecosystems in the broadest definition is a community of interacting people and the physical environment they are interacting in. I am now situated in the fashion ecosystem. I do not limit this conceptualization only to the impact of fashion on the physical world but also on the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of human beings.
I think creating /making is the way the I can contribute to a sustainable fashion ecosystem and your writing is yours (with Calvin’s photos).
Yes, thank you we each have our tool. I want to dig into ways fashion and makeup are/can be used to solve a social problem or make the world a better place.
I’m very much interested like Sarah in sustainable fashion choices and small daily choices that affect our world globally.
I am worried that capitalism is too focused on consumerism. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Finding a balance is difficult.
bisous
Suzanne
http://www.suzannecarillo.com
I think you nailed the key issue:finding the balance. We can no longer indulge in either/or. What might a compassionate yet financially rewarding project look like?
I’m very much interested like Sarah in sustainable fashion choices and small daily choices that affect our world globally.
I am worried that capitalism is too focused on consumerism. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Finding a balance is difficult.
bisous
Suzanne
http://www.suzannecarillo.com
I think you nailed the key issue:finding the balance. We can no longer indulge in either/or. What might a compassionate yet financially rewarding project look like?
I have always found fashion important in daily life, it can change people and environments.I feel strongly how it affects me in a positive way. AsI evolve my fashion sense also thoughts and behaviour turns positive! This is something I would like to give to others ,and you being in a fashion Ecco system in the position you are do that all the time, thank you! Ruth, london
That is a wonderful project and I aim to take it on even more. I am so happy you found the power of fashion!
I have always found fashion important in daily life, it can change people and environments.I feel strongly how it affects me in a positive way. AsI evolve my fashion sense also thoughts and behaviour turns positive! This is something I would like to give to others ,and you being in a fashion Ecco system in the position you are do that all the time, thank you! Ruth, london
That is a wonderful project and I aim to take it on even more. I am so happy you found the power of fashion!
I agree with the three previous comments. I would like to hope that there is room for small independent designers, producers and sellers in fashion. Much of what is on sale in the UK is produced anywhere but the UK, mostly it’s from China. I know that there are independent designers and producers working in the UK but they find it difficult to get their produce into shops because it’s more expensive than the big retailers who have their clothes mass-produced outside of the UK. Our charity shops (thrift shops) are full to bursting with cheap clothes that folks buy and get rid of quickly. I’d like people to value their clothes more. Buy less but buy better. I have no idea whether the situation in the US is similar, though I would imagine it is.
You are correct, it is the same. New York City is beginning to develop incubators and small run production centers to assist emerging designers. These are the initiatives to support and build on. Part of the issue is how do you make this affordable for those folks (like a 14 year old) who wrote and said she wants to use fashion for expression but can only afford fast fashion? Let’s put our heads to it.
I agree with the three previous comments. I would like to hope that there is room for small independent designers, producers and sellers in fashion. Much of what is on sale in the UK is produced anywhere but the UK, mostly it’s from China. I know that there are independent designers and producers working in the UK but they find it difficult to get their produce into shops because it’s more expensive than the big retailers who have their clothes mass-produced outside of the UK. Our charity shops (thrift shops) are full to bursting with cheap clothes that folks buy and get rid of quickly. I’d like people to value their clothes more. Buy less but buy better. I have no idea whether the situation in the US is similar, though I would imagine it is.
You are correct, it is the same. New York City is beginning to develop incubators and small run production centers to assist emerging designers. These are the initiatives to support and build on. Part of the issue is how do you make this affordable for those folks (like a 14 year old) who wrote and said she wants to use fashion for expression but can only afford fast fashion? Let’s put our heads to it.
What struck me as I read this was that even as the virtual world of conversation increases in scope and opportunity, what I crave is conversation in real time and space as well. For whatever reason, I rarely get that in my own "ecosystem" (a city of a million people in the Southwest.) I keep wondering how I might gather people of like mind–there must be others here–for a "salon" of conversation. Any ideas?
Meanwhile, I continue on playing artistically with how I dress every day, for myself. This includes lots of making of things I want to wear, and second hand shopping–the elements of personal, sustainable fashion that Sarah and Suzanne spoke about in their comments.
The word "salon" keeps coming up in a number of arenas. Since your geography feels limiting to you did you ever think of something like Skype?
What struck me as I read this was that even as the virtual world of conversation increases in scope and opportunity, what I crave is conversation in real time and space as well. For whatever reason, I rarely get that in my own "ecosystem" (a city of a million people in the Southwest.) I keep wondering how I might gather people of like mind–there must be others here–for a "salon" of conversation. Any ideas?
Meanwhile, I continue on playing artistically with how I dress every day, for myself. This includes lots of making of things I want to wear, and second hand shopping–the elements of personal, sustainable fashion that Sarah and Suzanne spoke about in their comments.
The word "salon" keeps coming up in a number of arenas. Since your geography feels limiting to you did you ever think of something like Skype?
I am interested in the far edge of fashion/textile responsibility. Fibersheds, as defined by Rebecca Burgess are the geographic region from which come all of the resources to make an article of clothing and a movement to use textiles that are sourced locally. I would like to establish a fibershed in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, perhaps concentrating on re-introducing flax.
I gravitate toward second hand or made by hand and have an exhibition up now at the Fort Gallery in Fort Langley, BC called "Make Do"
Thank you, Lyn
Thank you for sharing this. Fibershed is a wonderful term and I had never heard it before. Your project sounds amazing and exciting. Please keep us informed of your process as you go and congratulations.
I am interested in the far edge of fashion/textile responsibility. Fibersheds, as defined by Rebecca Burgess are the geographic region from which come all of the resources to make an article of clothing and a movement to use textiles that are sourced locally. I would like to establish a fibershed in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, perhaps concentrating on re-introducing flax.
I gravitate toward second hand or made by hand and have an exhibition up now at the Fort Gallery in Fort Langley, BC called "Make Do"
Thank you, Lyn
Thank you for sharing this. Fibershed is a wonderful term and I had never heard it before. Your project sounds amazing and exciting. Please keep us informed of your process as you go and congratulations.