The diploma thesis entitled 'Designing a sustainable collection based on upcycling principles of old clothes' combines the research of the wider issue of clothing and textile waste as well as the role that clothing design plays in this. Further I connected the research with my personal starting points and thinking about the attitude towards clothes in the past versus in the current time. The result of intertwining theoretical and experimental work is unique clothing collection with a recognizable visual identity, which displays different approaches to upcycling of used clothes and textiles.
In the theoretical part, I focused on systems for handling waste clothing and textiles and analyzed existing practices of reusing discarded clothing. I also researched the developing field of circular design and the operation of contemporary fashion brands that are changing the established practices of design, development and production of collections. I also presented the challenges that designers face in the process of upcycling, the main goal of which is to reuse existing clothes and textiles and thus return them to the cycle of use. I concluded the theoretical part with a presentation of the works of the artist Yves Klein and their influence on fashion designers.
In my practical work, I researched various approaches to upcycling and found out how to introduce modern aesthetics into used and old-fashioned clothes and textiles. I used old family photos as artistic starting points, which depicted solemn events such as baptism, confirmation, communion and wedding. Through experiments in printing a specific blue color on textile materials and draping on a doll, a collection of clothes was spontaneously created, which is entirely made from used clothes and home textiles such as tablecloths, sheets and bedspreads.
I concluded the experimental part through a series of photos, which through studio and rural photography presents a contemporary fashion story with a starting point in old family photos. The thesis, together with the sustainable clothing collection entitled Planned coincidences, encourages reflection on our relationship with clothes and their value, and at the same time gives fashion designers concrete guidelines and suggestions for upcycling already existing material and clothes.
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