World 19

The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in World 19 succeeded in dismantling capitalism more efficiently than any environmental activist could have dreamed.

The purpose of the fashion ‘season’ is turned on its head. Fashion ‘capital’ is driven by collectives exploring sensitive ways to promote the health of insects, rivers, weather. Communities compete to demonstrate imaginative responses to seasonal knowledge through clothing intimately connected to the requirements of the other-than-human. Success is judged by the way knowledge is shared and embodied, habitats are ameliorated and harmful practices replaced.

Fashion producers unanimously adopt the environmental Hippocratic oath – “first do no harm”. Climate summit goals are strengthened – and met.

What if …

the fashion ‘season’ had a completely different meaning?

Issue targeted:

attitudes towards the environment as resource; addressing cultural causes of environmental degradation

Inspiration:

Lynn Margulis, Extinction Rebellion, Donna Haraway; early Japanese nature-culture (Heian period and ‘mono no aware’)

This World was contributed by Katherine Pogson (located in London (Finsbury Park), 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.

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Published by Amy Twigger Holroyd

explorer of Fashion Fictions

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