STITCH!
What is fashion? And what do fashion and clothing mean to us? That's the point of departure for STITCH!, the installation by Meta Struycken at EENWERK gallery Anyone looking around sees a variety of interesting handcraft techniques and a statement about our relationship with clothes.
'Clothes should no longer be seen as fleeting passers-by, but should become part of our lives.' With small hints such as Repair, Revive and Reuse, Meta reminds us that we must cherish our clothes instead of throwing them away. By way of her objects on a mini scale, she invites us to pay attention to, adjust and mend our wardrobes.
'Clothes should no longer be seen as fleeting passers-by, but should become part of our lives.' With small hints such as Repair, Revive and Reuse, Meta reminds us that we must cherish our clothes instead of throwing them away. By way of her objects on a mini scale, she invites us to pay attention to, adjust and mend our wardrobes.
In these times, when fashion is mainly mass-produced, it is also an invitation to embellish and personalise garments. Ultimately, as an installation of 90 clothing objects, STITCH! is also a clear statement, a pamphlet against today's fashion industry.
At this point in history, we've lost our way concerning our relationship with fashion and clothes. We see a rapidness in trends that can no longer be kept up with. Labels and influencers do launches every day, new styles and trends every hour. Fast Fashion looks good in terms of the image, but is often poorly made; from low-quality fabric and with a bad fit. It has led to a culture in which we, in Europe, wear a piece of clothing only seven to eight times before discarding it.
The fashion industry – we know that by now, too – is extremely polluting and produces far too much. Fashion is a 'push market', in which labels put goods on the market and already make a profit when 30% is sold. Then 30% goes on sale. The remaining third ends up on the rubbish heap. It has been calculated that so much clothing is circulating today that we could clothe several generations with it.
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