Museum presents 'ethical clothes'
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With fashion trends changing by the minute, even during the worldwide economic crisis, many no-so-rich fashion addicts have only one choice: fast-fashion. Led by Zara, H&M and Mango, fashion brands started to provide cheap but extra trendy clothes that would last for usually just a single season.
The plan -- to buy a skirt, enjoy it for the season, throw it away and buy another one next year -- sounded perfect, until fast-fashion's harmful effects on the environment were revealed. Clothes, which are usually made of synthetic fiber, can take forever to degrade.
As an alternative, the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art is hosting the exhibition "Fashion Ethics 'Wear Good.'"
It is the second of the museum's cross-genre exhibition series that seeks new artistic possibilities through interactions with genres other than pure art. The first was on architecture.
From six different countries, fashion designers, contemporary artists and even architects got together to present some "ethical clothes" at the current exhibition.
"'Ethical Fashion' refers to clothes made of organic fabric or recycled materials, or those that are produced with third world labor recruited through fair trade. It has recently become a key issue in the fashion industry," said exhibition curator Hwang Rock-joo.
The pavilion looks like something in between a fashion show and a contemporary art exhibition. Most of the exhibits are fanciful, but no more than the designer-labeled clothes are on runways.
French designer Ana Paula Freitas made bags and dresses made of recycled aluminum can lids. They were all handmade by ladies from a local community in Brazil named "The Cia Lacre."
The silver shiny bags were so perfectly sewed -- complete to the inner pockets -- that people would probably never guess that they are looking at a bunch of can lids unless they were told.
Mark Liu from England showcased his "zero waste designs." Realizing that 15 percent of fabrics are wasted just in the cutting process of making clothes, he decided to create a design that uses 100 percent of the prepared materials.
"I noticed that eastern designs like Japanese Kimono or Indian Sari doesn't waste any of the fabric. I tried to create something like that in western styles, something that also have contemporary looks," Liu said at the press conference last week.
Pure white wedding dresses displayed at one corner of the exhibition will catch the eyes of many young women. Lee Kyung Jae made them of alternative fiber from eco-friendly materials such as corn or nettle.
Some designers gave ethical and modern touches to Korean traditional designs. Shoe designer Lee Kyum-bie is one of them. Lee transformed Korean traditional straw sandals into sophisticated high heels.
An actual fashion show was held at the opening day of the exhibition.
Twenty-six amateur models consisting of artists, critics and professors such as artist Nancy Lang and photographer Jeong Yeon-doo, strutted down the runway wearing their own ethnic clothes.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 4 at Gyeonggi Museum of Art in Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province. For more information, visit www.gmoma.org or call (031) 481-7007~9.
(claire@heraldm.com)
By Park Min-young
