PHOEBE’S HOT TAKES: A series of short manifestos about the fashion industry, sustainability, and reflections on navigating this field as a young designer.
As creatives we can get lost in our own critical thinking and forget to actually say something, which is why writing it down might help us learn to make bolder statements. All you need is an A4 paper, a marker and an opinion (which you might disagree with next week, but then it’s time to write a new Hot Take!)
We consume, on average, 60% more clothes than 15 years ago. But we only keep them for 50% of the time we used to.
This problematic and unsustainable shift is completely understandable.
As a Gen-Zer, spat out into the world in the year 2000, in the midst of a digital revolution, I never knew a functioning or sustainable fashion system.
By the time we’re home with our newly purchased piece of clothing it's out of trend.
So what did you expect to happen? You gave us access to so many options, ideals and illusions of newness, instead of teaching us the ways of our grandparents - mend, repair, preserve, make, learn to make, invest in what you have and it will be worth much more than owning more things.
No, you taught us that our time and money was best spent on modernisation. On your false illusions of newness, where style sensibilities are rebranded and repackaged as purchasable aesthetics. You told us we could be anyone we wanted to be, without having to embody the lifestyle that feeds into a fashion style, but by buying into it.
So, in a world where everyone has access to anything in the digital realm, did you really expect us to be satisfied with buying into a dream version of ourselves just once? Of course not! You told us to upgrade, update, modernise, keep up with the trends. We did as we were told and kept buying into new versions of ourselves.
These unsustainable practices are not our fault, but they are our doing. A case of the blind leading the blind. But now that we have gained sight, it is our responsibility, our opportunity to make things right. To unlearn what you told us.
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Do you have a fashion Hot Take? Grab an A4 paper, a non-erasable pen, and get writing! Make it a zine like mine, or find your own format. What matters is that you make your statement and dare to share! Send it to us at hello@msfmag.com
So what did you expect to happen? You gave us access to so many options, ideals and illusions of newness, instead of teaching us the ways of our grandparents - mend, repair, preserve, make, learn to make, invest in what you have and it will be worth much more than owning more things.
