Sustainability and its discontents

Chalk this up to one of those situations where the contradiction is so obvious pointing it out would be rude. But hey, as long as I have to write a column I might as well be rude.

You wouldn’t know it by looking in my clothes closet, but I’m into DIY fashion. And of the 11 people reading this column, seven just left. But it’s not really about fashion, I promise.

(I lied, at least briefly. You would know I’m into fashion sewing if you looked at my stack of projects. There’s a few – okay, more than a few – what we seamistas call UFOs, or unfinished objects. As for seamista, I’m sure somebody else thought of it first, but I’ll say I made it up.)

Anyway, the current buzzword among this crowd is “sustainability.” A few sewing YouTube types tend to include little lectures about sustainability – buying less fabric, whatever. The same people then turn around a couple weeks later and talk about this or that pattern being “on trend,” which means it’s a good thing.

No doubt if you’ve read this far you see the problem. Fashion is inherently unsustainable. On the one hand women (whether they buy or sew their clothes) are supposed to be frugal with their fashion dollars and their wardrobes. On the other hand some of the women preaching wardrobe frugality scorn other women who aren’t en trende. (That’s the fancy French way to say it.)

So. Is anybody among the fashionistas rethinking any of this? Are fashion designers, the fashion press (it’s a thing), fashion trendsetters asking if maybe it’s too much to have collections for fall, winter, holiday, resort or some combination of those three, early spring, spring, summer, early fall? (I wish I were kidding, but I’m not.) Is it really necessary for fashion designers to rent out the Roman Coliseum or Versailles to show their latest collection?

Does anybody ever ask if it’s really necessary to have Fashion Weeks in New York, Paris, London, Milan and Tokyo? Maybe all those designers could just pick a place – Warsaw sounds nice, or maybe Reno, Nevada – and all show their wares in one big fashionable jumble. And then there’s the whole question of fashion shows for guys.

Of course not. Nobody ever questions those things.

There is a great fuss about sustainability, but it’s directed at people who buy affordable clothing. Now there’s a lot wrong with what’s called “fast fashion,” starting with poor quality fabrics and fit, and substandard working conditions in way too many cases. That stuff is a good reason to DIY. It does not get big-time designers and their acolytes off the hook.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected]. She is remarkably patient with her decidedly unfashionable co-workers.