FASHION FORWARD: The FQ + EQ Movement

Fashion – a synonym for glamour, beauty and style and something we deal with everyday. Even people, who say they don’t care about what they wear, chose clothes every morning that speak a lot about their personality. Fashion is in everything that surrounds us. Be it ads on buses, billboards, magazines, TV commercials, uniforms, malls and even kids. Today fashion is not only about wearing trendy and beautiful clothes but it includes everything that is used to accessorize it and make a complete statement. These things include accessories like footwear’s, bags and purses, belts, jewelry, technical gadgets like mobile phones, I-pods, laptops, hair do’s, tattoo’s, hair colours and so on. Fashion brings a revolution and newness in the existing patterns of dressing, presentation, and an amalgamation of old and new in culture. Remember, the time when mobile phones were newly launched. The size of phone was quite big, heavy and had an antenna. Just compare it with the modern avatar of mobile phones and you will observe a big change in the design, form and other physical attributes of mobiles. What to talk of technological developments. Recently Kareena Kapoor, the celebrity & actress, was seen endorsing a range of Sony Vaio Laptops that were advertised as Size ZERO. Kareena Kapoor was primarily chosen because she had sported a look and developed a figure of size ZERO for movie Tashan. The slim and light weight Sony Vaio was comparable to the figure of the actress. It simply illustrates that fashion impacts every aspect of life and governs our lifestyle. Fashion is anything that is accepted by a substantial group of people at a given time in a given place. It is affected by factors such as social, technological, political, economic and competitive. In short, fashion is a reflection of our lifestyle. Due to the increase in educational levels, the awareness regarding various issues pertaining to environment, ecology, ozone depletion, rising water levels, extinction of flora and fauna, sustainability, save earth, recycle and revival has grown tremendously. Today people are more conscious about these aspects and are contributing in their own way towards saving the Mother Earth. Several national and international designers have been developing collections that highlight the recycle, sustainability, ecology and save animals cause. Designers think deeply about ethics and practice eco- design methods to develop a line of Eco- friendly apparels. They work as important catalyst for economic growth. Sarah Ratty, who runs eco- philosophy fashion label CIEL, showed her debut collection titled Torch the Earth in 1992, which featured unbleached organic cheesecloth and mud hand prints. Anita Dongre, renowned fashion designer from India, was the first to launch eco- friendly designer wear in India. Her label “ Grassroot” was launched in 2007. Global communications, increased competition, higher consumer expectations, offshore manufacturing and marketing have all paced up the fashion industry leading to faster and cheaper fashion. Fast fashion has put pressure on clothing manufacturers to develop and release products at shorter lead times. Focus on environmental issues has added to their concerns as the manufacturers need to comply with the ecology norms as specified by the buyer. Corporate social responsibility in textiles, dyeing and manufacturing businesses has gained momentum. The manufacturer, who was earlier adding to the environmental issues, is now working towards it as a solution provider. Recently some big brands in US and Japan have taken initiatives to manufacture and market eco-friendly apparels and fabrics. Several small organizations, NGOs and Government institutions are campaigning about protection of ecology. Fashion industry can contribute immensely in ecology protection by following the norms as set by the concerned institutions and highlight the aspect of eco- fashion and ethical trading. In context of Eco-friendly promotional efforts, it is pertinent to mention here that, the 45th India International Garment Fair, held at IEC, Greater Noida, from 12th to 14th July 2010 marked the maiden entry of IAM, Gurgaon in ramp show with the presentation of a collection six garments designed and developed by Ms. Japjee Kaur, Assistant Professor and Coordinator at Institute of Apparel Management, Gurgaon. The entire collection was based on a theme that revolved around the concept of eco-fashion. The theme “ Fashion Forward: FQ with EQ” reflected the integration of natural products with fashion. The creative thinking process started almost two months before the date of the event when 3-4 themes were considered for the event. A brief about each was developed and later discussed with Dr. Darlie. Koshy, DG & CEO- IAM & ATDC. Finally the concept on eco-fashion was chosen to be developed into a collection. Rough sketches gave way to final illustrations that depicted the silhouette and features in each garment.

Collection of 6 garments showcased at 45th IIGF
The collection was trendy, elegant and sophisticated besides. It portrayed a balance of all the elements and principles of design that emphasized the aspect of eco- fashion at its best. The silhouettes like bell, square, rectangular and A- shape were employed. The collection was a combination of knee- length and floor length dresses in natural palette like white, cream, yellow and beige. Fabrics used were in plain weave or had floral patterns in jacquard. The surface ornamentation was done using trims such as motifs, jute flower patches and crotchet laces in natural palette, hand embroidery using wooden beads, conch shells and jute braids. The garments were complemented with accessories like handbags and footwear in cream and beige colours and jewelry comprised of wooden bangles and earrings. The designs had princess seam, basque, empire line, halter neck, plunged necklines, godet skirt, half umbrella skirt and spaced tucks. The two tone effect produced by the blend of cotton flax jacquard fabric was attention grabber. Similarly the horizontal woven stripes in silk jute blend were highly appreciated.

Silk & ramie fitted thigh length dress embellished with crotchet lace and accessorized with jute handbag	Components of fashion: Colour, texture and detail
The most important aspect i.e., eco-friendly, of collection was taken care by utilising textile materials such as organic cotton, bamboo fabric, soya fabric, ramie, peace silk, hemp, blend of cotton jute, cotton flax and silk jute. Natural colours of the fabrics were used as such depicting that beautiful fashionable products can be developed even by avoiding the use of harmful dyes and chemical treatments. The use of handmade trims in cotton crotchet laces, jute braids, conch shells, wooden beads, silk floss, and cotton laces further enhanced the beauty of Eco- garments. Even the accessories sourced to coordinate with the collection were developed from natural materials.

Skirt top in organic cotton embellished with jute braid, jute flowers and cotton pom-pom lace. The skirt has godets while top is sculpted
Fashion is all about change which keeps our life interesting. The first eco- fashion movement started in mid 1970s as a part of hippie revolution and was more of anti- fashion stance. The emphasis was on handmade, ethnic, and developing alternative life styles through use of natural fibers like hemp and natural dyeing processes to impart colour to textiles. The second wave occurred in 1990s but was more commercial in nature. The credit goes to US based fashion company Esprit that launched their Ecollection in 1994. M & S has set the target of becoming the world’s most sustainable eco- friendly products retailer by 2015. But the most obvious question that comes to our mind is: Is it possible to be fashionable and environmental friendly at the same time? The answer is YES. In order to further the cause of Eco- friendly and sustainable fashion the following steps are proposed: Use Organic cotton, recycled wool, soya fabric, 100% bamboo fabric, Corn , Pina, Tencel, Peace silk, flax and their blends . Use of natural dyes for colouring of textile material. Developing policies on safety and environmental practices of clothing. Developing standards and codes of practice Ethical trading initiatives. Commitment towards becoming carbon neutral Focus on sustainability, recycle, rethink, reuse, recreate, repair, reduce. Hand crafted ornamentation. Vegetable dyes offer advantages which include: maintaining ecological balance, dyes are non-pollutant, these dyes have a very pleasing warm and soothing effect, and they have good resistance to moth attacks on fabrics. Vegetable dyes posses certain inherent limitations such as: more consumption of dye, reproducibility of the same shade is not easy and they have poor washing, rubbing and light fastness. Natural dyes are a result of centuries old knowledge and skills which have been handed down through generations. Sources for natural dyes include seeds, nuts, leaves, roots, bark and flowers. Plants like Turmeric, also known as Indian Saffron, is a rich source of yellow colour and is used in dyeing and printing. Indigofera tinctoria, that provides indigo powder is a rich source of excellent blue shades. Tiny yellow flowers of madder are a valuable source of red colour as its roots contain alizarin.Yellow ochre colour is obtained from pomegranate. Since its skin is rich in tannin, it improves colour fastness properties. Since pomegranate dye lacks brilliance, it is often mixed with turmeric powder to produce bright colour. The dyestuff obtained from Acacia is rich in tannin and gives orange brown dye. It was used to dye and print Calico. Onion is a rich source of colour that produces shades in wine, pink and rust.

Sources of Vegetable dyes
Despite limitations most crafts persons in rural India use natural dyes for printing purposes. They have developed processes and application techniques for fast natural dyes and these skills have been passed on from generation to generation for decades. Now people are taking interest in eco-friendly apparels and fabrics. Retailers have replaced plastic carry bags with handmade paper carry bags or newspaper carry bags. Many fashion designers and merchandisers spend days to understand the dye preparation processes, which are exclusively developed by rural crafts persons besides getting their fabrics printed using natural dyes. The heritage preserved by rural crafts persons needs attention and financial support of the entrepreneurs, manufacturers, designers and above all government. With the cooperation of different contributors to apparel and textile industry, the Mother Earth can be made ‘Green’ and a better place to live for coming generations.
Japjee Kaur, Assistant Professor & Coordinator Fashion & Textiles Merchandising Fashion Communication