Ophidia

Katie Crum

The research for my fashion collection was investigating how the ready to wear market can incorporate artisan work to provide consumers quality, lasting garments that are distinctive. The inspiration for this collection was from the texture’s found from a snake’s lifespan. The fast fashion industry moves quickly, trying to keep up with new trends. This cycle is creating a huge amount of textile waste. The mass production of garments is lowering the quality of the garments and this fast pace industry is leaving out craftsmanship. The goal for this collection is to bring back the idea of celebrating artisan work while trying to be more sustainable in textile development. How can artisan work be incorporated into the ready to wear market to create better quality garments and approach a more sustainable development of cloth?

I began investigating how sustainability can be approached by the fast fashion industry through up-cycling. By taking apart second hand jeans and re-cutting them into strips I was able to develop a new textile. In addition, I fabricated more textiles through creating new prints, weaving fabric and knitting full-fashioned garments. I incorporated fur with grommets on the surface to create a new scale like texture. The color palate consisted of black and white so the focus was on surface design and textures.

The collection consists eight looks, which incorporate different textiles and surface designs inspired from textures found in a snake’s lifespan. The collection successfully integrated artisan craftsmanship with sustainable methods to create distinctive clothes.