GREEN FASHION written by VaLerie K
BiG TeA PaRtY supports a local student who promotes RECYCLING & REUSING in an exhibit on the visual merchandising of fashion trends.
 |
Style Tribes v6.0*
International House - Lobby Gallery
37th & Chestnut, Philadelphia
Opening: June 11, 2008: 6-9pm
Regular viewing: 8AM-10PM daily
Show closes August 22nd
Each year, students from the Visual Merchandising class that is part of Drexel University’s Design & Merchandising department create an exhibit called “Style Tribes”, which explores the formation of “tribes” based on fashion, music, and identity within specific sub-cultures.
Members of “Style Tribes” step outside their normal defining groups based on gender, race, religion or geography and form social groups with other people drawn to the same style, unencumbered by more traditional boundaries.
 VaLerie K & Mary Peeler at Style Tribes 6.0 opening, 6/11/08
|
Now in its 6th year, the 2008 edition - Style Tribes v 6.0 - is trying something new: each student is working with a metal “paper doll” form which is “dressed” to reflect the student’s vision of his/her chosen tribe. Also, the students design branding and promotional marketing materials for the Style Tribes show, mount the exhibit and stage an opening reception.
One of the students, Mary Peeler, depicts “Thrift Swappers” - a tribe whose fashion sense is based on REusing and REcycling fashion. Her presentation highlights practices like trading clothes among friends and clothing rehab - taking something old and turning it into something new, such as transforming a pair of pants into a skirt, or changing an apron into a summer top. Peeler has put together a video collage which incorporates clips from a video by reigning sustainable lifestyle collective BiG TeA PaRtY called “All Girls Clothes Swap“.
“All Girls Clothes Swap” is an energetic and instructive short video explaining how to host your own Clothing Swap, showing a live clothing swap as it happens, and giving helpful hints to a growing grassroots movement of groups of friends who gather for the purpose of trading clothes and other items they’re no longer using, thus learning to recycle and reuse useful goods in an age of rampant materialism… and having a lot of fun doing it.
*the Style Tribes project is the brainchild of Anne Cecil, Director, Design & Merchandising.
CLICK HERE to see BiG TeA PaRtY’s video “All Girls Clothes Swap”
CLICK HERE to read the BiG TeA PaRtY article about Clothing Swaps by VaLerie K
CLICK HERE for info on Drexel University’s dept of Design & Merchandising
