Each stage of fashion production has environmental consequences. Designers who use, produce, and promote ethical and sustainable products are working to diminish fashion’s harmful impact on the environment. Their work is being supported by conscientious consumers—Julie Gilhart, eco-advocate and fashion director of Barneys New York, has observed that people now “want things that are made well, that are made in a conscious way, that have long-term values, that are beautiful. All of that is part of the story.”
Yet an understanding of the past is crucial to our grasp of the present, and the complex history of the fashion industry’s relationship with the environment has rarely been explored.
Eco-Fashion: Going Green provides historical context for the eco-fashion movement by examining fashion’s environmental and ethical practices over the past 250 years. More than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles touch upon six major themes of the eco-fashion movement. The themes associated with each garment are identified by corresponding icons:
The exhibition opens with 21st-century sustainable fashions by cutting-edge labels such as Alabama Chanin, EDUN, FIN, and Stella McCartney. Then it begins at the mid-18th century and progresses chronologically, using contemporary notions of “going green” as a framework for the past.
Eco-Fashion: Going Green was organized by Jennifer Farley and Colleen Hill, with support from Tiffany Webber and Lynn Weidner, as well as Fred Dennis and Ann Coppinger. Special thanks to Julian Clark and Valerie Steele.
The exhibition has been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Couture Council of The Museum at FIT.
[Exhibition Wall Text]Publication
Sustainable Fashion: Past, Present, and Future by Jennifer Farley Gordon and Colleen Hill, Bloomsbury, 2014.