Every Friday night in World 4, the British streets are awash with eye-catching fashion statements – comprised primarily of foliage. The origins of this culture lie in 1984, when singer Morrissey rebelliously stuck a bunch of gladioli in the back pocket of his jeans. To his horror, more mainstream pop stars and their fans immediately adopted the idea and the practice soon became established as an inventive and ephemeral means of adornment.
Community gardens, which grew in popularity in the following decades, provide a ready source of material, although seasonality and scarcity unsurprisingly play a central role in foliage-based fashion trends.
What if …
fashion fads didn’t involve the high-volume and resource-intensive production of clothes?
Issue targeted:
garments worn once and then discarded
Inspiration:
The amazing Eyes As Big As Plates photography project by Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth
This World was contributed by Amy Twigger Holroyd (located in Nottingham, UK) using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the author and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
Related Explorations
Response to World 4
This world recalled:
1) Alexander McQueen’s work with real flowers – https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/alexander-mcqueen-rose-dresses. But specifically the Sarabande Collection – https://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/dress-sarabande/
2) The work with flower petals (often from wedding bouquets) and their using in dyeing clothing – http://www.caramariepiazza.com/
– Fashion Fictions respondent
Does this World remind you of something?
I am keen to hear about any historical or contemporary real-world examples – whether individual practices, subcultures or mainstream activities – that this fiction brings to mind.
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