Recycled Fashion

So I have this idea. It’s stuck in my head. It stems from the quaint Kathleen Plate-brain child of Smart Glass jewellery. She sees a discarded Coca Cola glass bottle not as unwanted crap but as an opportunity…an opportunity to re-design, re-create and re-mould. Her original recycled jewellery pieces are beautifully eco-friendly, stylish, and individual. The natural progression then in my mind concerns the rest of the attire-which leads to my recycled fashion idea. As I start to delve into the blurred boundary between recycling and fashion, I soon find myself perched on a heap of garbage, watching a catwalk brimmed with one-off quirky outfits that cannot be found in high street stores…and I’m left wondering how does such shit transform into sophistication, and what is the missing link? For me, its people like Kesh.

Kesh is not the only self taught designer flourishing amidst a meritocratic London, but in my opinion she’s the best, so its Kesh I’ll be praising and you can learn to love her too (if you don’t already, obviously). It’s not the fact that she is blessed with multi talents (DJ/photography/fashion designer) but that she, like Plate, sees opportunities. Anything old is an opportunity to be turned into something new and young. Charity shops are Kesh’s boutiques, where she’ll purchase a garment the rest of us would use as a spare cleaning cloth, and turn it into an effortlessly cool ensemble fit for the uber-trendy urban London scene. Watch her 30 minute Dress video and you’ll instantly understand.

Yes, she holds artistic skills superior to us mere mortals, but it’s her foresight that gives birth to such customized creations. Hand her a pair of scissors with a few safety pins and Kesh will transform even the most hideous of garments. By taking old has-beens and giving them a modern edge, Kesh recycles old fashion to re-work it into something edgy and new. Not only does this recycled approach allow your wardrobe to be truly yours (you’re finally not another Topshop clone), it also fits fabulously into the current economic climate in which all our bank accounts are dying of starvation. Spending 50p on an old nightie found at a charity shop and customizing it into a slinky dress is much more rewarding than splashing £50 on a new mini and sipping on OJ all night as you now can’t afford any alcohol…lame.