The What of My Slow Fashion Closet

Welcome to week 2 of Slow Fashion October. Initially, let me provide a visual update on some of the projects I am working on during this month. You will see the completed back as well as the lower portion of the front of my own Aviatrix Pullover; the bottom right shows the shrug portion of my Quimby Hooded Cover-up. I am trying to complete both by the end of this week - we will see how far I get. 

I started this post with a projects update because it is directly relevant to this week's #slotober prompt: the what - specifically, what am I doing differently than I have in the past vis-a-vis my clothing, how has slow fashion impacted my closet, and what projects or individual pieces do I feel strongly about, and why. 

Initially, because I am also a designer, slow fashion has had an impact on what I design. I have been having this very conversation with a few of my fellow designers on social media for a while now - I have become rather picky in terms of what calls I respond to. Some aspect of the call itself needs to speak to me in order for me to put together a submission. I am also being very particular with those designs I self-publish - no more designing just for the sake of it. 

However, I do want to make clear that aesthetics can be a high motivator for me. Function is important, but I view fashion and home design within an artistic framework - so if a design idea really speaks to me along aesthetic lines, it might very well get made, irrespective of whether it is the uptheenth bag in my accessories repertoire. It is, for me, always balanced by the fact that I will never make a sock, so at least I know which rabbit holes I can easily and successfully avoid.

What is animating my personal making, as well as my closet, leads me back to my opening update. When I first started making things in earnest back in mid-2009 (when I joined Ravelry), it was all shawls all the time. I look back on that introduction to making fondly. I met many fellow shawl makers (some of whom are now my fellow designers), and I learned a lot about color, fiber, and finishing. But I am mostly (although not completely) over my shawl making phase. I am slowly but inexorably going down the sweater and skirt paths. I have not yet attempted a dress, but I am certain it is on the design and making horizon. As I am making more and more of my clothing that makes my everyday wardrobe rotation, this is a natural progression. This is also an area in which I still have a fair amount of curiosity - both with designs I may devise, as well as those of other designers. Heck, I have three + decades of Vogue Knitting designs to work through, my favorites of which inhabit a Ravelry working queue that will, quite literally, outlive me. However, each of the designs in my queue speaks to me (and trust me, that queue has gone through several rounds of editing over the last few years!), so making any amount of them would satisfy me on many levels. I am working on those designs for which I have yarn already put aside. That, along with my regular designing activities, will keep me busy for quite a while.

I design for myself, and hope that what animates me is also animating other publishers and makers. I take this approach for a particular reason - I am not willing to blindly feed the consumerism monster. I absolutely do not see my design activities as merely an extension or tool of those who need to sell magazines and yarn. Of course, I've written about this extensively with regards to advertising and content on this blog. I take a public broadcasting approach to advertising, and by extension, designing ... like Ken Burns' approach to documentary film making (in a far, far bush league sort of way). One can design and make with purpose, and still be prolific, but do so based on what deeply animates. That will necessarily mean that choices are limited and edited, but in the best possible way. 

However, once the editing occurs ... then all bets are off. If I want to make 5 of the same sweater in many colors, I will do so.