Nothing Bad Magazine, fashion recycling article

Fashion Recycling

In the wake of the Noughties: the decade of recycling, many of us are trying to do our bit for the environment. Remembering to bring your 'bag for life' on a quick run to Tescos is more difficult than it should be. But we can compensate for the pang of guilt that comes when the cashier produces yet another flimsy plastic bag that we'll save in our stash but never use.

Let's get creative. As we are already recycling fashion trends from eras gone past why not recycle our everyday paraphernalia of life too?

Open your mind (and possibly lower your standards of your own appearance) and your home can become a free of charge shop.

Think about it. After Christmas, if you have any seemingly obsolete plastic toys from a cracker why not transform them into a necklace pendant or brooch? Unless you are particularly unlucky, no one will have the same one as you. Do the same with nice looking beer bottle caps. While educating your taste buds with a new beer advertised by an interesting image, you also instantly have something to liven up a gold chain. Lovely.

As for present-wrapping equipment, if you have saved it for other present-giving occasions, by which time you may well have lost it, use it now. If you have a wedding, funeral or a formal occasion coming up, and buying something like a fascinator seems a little wasteful as you're probably not going to wear it again, collect any ribbons, bows and wire, tie them together decoratively and whack them on your head with a hair pin. Perfect.

Finally, if you're feeling adventurous and not afraid of the possible ridicule you might receive, keep an eye out for attractive plastic bottles. Once you have finished drinking it and washing it out, cut a slit vertically down the side, attach a chain or leather string to top and bottom and bingo...you have a new, quirky bag.

http://nothingbadmag.com/index.php/mag/

Photographs for Topshop student style zine

This is a selection of photos of girls I snapped. They are mainly from LCC and CSM in London. It's not the most creative work in the world but it's nice to take pictures of pretty ladies as they usually make for an attractive image...

ALN fashion in the Noughties article

Style in the Noughties- Perfection of regression?

by Evie Jeffreys

Debbie Harry - one of many fashion icons still relevant today [Flickr, Jlacpo]When we look back on the fashion over the last decade, how many new and original trends can we boast? Not all that many come to mind.

With the new millennium came the age of recycling, which encompassed fashion as well as cereal boxes and wine bottles. A great deal of the styles we have seen through the noughties have been rehashes from eras gone past. Whether we buy from vintage or high street shops, there are at least echoes of fashion from the 20th century.

Over the past decade we have come across young people who look like replicas of 40s land girls, wearing headscarves and high waisted trousers, or what seems to be the cast of The Breakfast Club or Quadrophenia, or members of The Ramones.

Can we truly relate with punk or mod phases, or the era of the 50s housewife or moviestar? Is it because everything has been done that we have not created our own fashion identity?

Speaking to our generation's fashion students reveals more about what has happened to this century's style so far. Eliza Conlon is a Womenswear Student at Central Saint Martins and has interned as Jonathan Saunders' assistant for the last two summers.

She says that it is the 'micro trend' that develops now. Because our society has become so diverse, big trends have emerged less and less. She does, however, mention designers who have created a 'look', like Jil Saunder whose is 'minimal and clean'.

On the whole though, she does agree that fashion has hit a bit of a wall recently: "Everything has kind of been done before and it's very hard to be original and create a new sweeping trend."

Recycled

Annie Pheby, a Fashion Marketing student studying at London College of Communication and former intern of Roland Mouret, agrees that the trends of the noughties are not technically new.

What has come about though is the rise in 'youth subcultures', from which certain trends have derived: "In previous years there would have been a couple of predominant cultures, i.e. rockers and mods. Whereas these days there are a huge amount; emos, indies, metros, chavs, WAGs."

Still though, these movements are reflective of past fashion or music movements, for example 'emos' hark back to the 90s grunge trend.

A specific aspect of fashion phases is make up. According to Lucy Pearson, a student studying foundation Fashion Hair and Make Up at London College of Fashion, the most reproduced 'look' is classic 1950s.

"This look is an unbelievably huge trend, the likes of which have never before been seen in a rehash of a certain style of make up. Can you think of anyone who doesn't wear a liquid black liner over their lids or a crisp red lip?". Nevertheless, Pearson also accredits the noughties as "a time for great experimentation and change in make up trends."

Though trends and 'looks' specific to only the noughties have been rare, the generation has still given birth to new adaptations of old style.

Perhaps it is a good thing that we are being nostalgic. It is certainly a good thing that many of us are buying old clothes, particularly if they are from charity shops. Vivienne Westwood is a pioneer of recycling fashion. Though it may be a blow for the fashion industry, how much more do we really need?

http://www.artslondonnews.co.uk/20091124_style_in_the_noughties