Amy White
Meet GFF Talent, Amy White, a fashion graduate from the University of Northampton. Amy’s collection explores the possibilities of bio-degradable fabrics, using materials that she grew herself, known as Bacteria Cellulose. Read more about Amy’s zero-waste collection below!
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university?
It is difficult to narrow it down to just one important thing, so I’d have to argue my top three. I have studied fashion at both school and college but it was never in great depth as it was more about exploring different creative pathways. However, university has taught me a more thorough insight about different elements within the industry; the different roles out there to work in and, arguably most importantly to me, the ways that the industry and companies are trying to be more sustainable. Waste produced from fashion has always been a concern for me and with all my previous university projects, I have used different methods to up-cycle, recycle and limit the waste from the garments I make.
Coming to university has taught me more creative and alternative ways of producing garments that limit their wastefulness. This culminates in my final graduate collection where I have actually grown the fabric to make my garments which can then fully bio-degrade when no longer needed - having next to no impact on the environment.
Secondly, I have to give credit to the tutors, technicians and my fellow fashion peers at university. Without their seemingly endless support and encouragement, I would not have been able to develop as a designer. They have taught me to not be afraid to try new things, as well as delivering to me the starting nuggets of inspiration that have caused me to go on and flourish in my final year. Alongside this freedom to explore these alternative methods, the university has also taught me the skills such as in-depth concept research, complex pattern cutting and Computer-Aided Design skills which have prepared me for any future career paths I wish to pursue.
Finally, I would have to say that, on reflection, the most valuable thing that the university has taught me is giving me the chance to meet me - as a person and a creative. Every element, from living away from home, to studying a subject I had previously only been scratching the surface of, university has given me the opportunity to experience all of these new and exciting things. I had ummed and ahhhed about studying at university all throughout college and my gap year, wondering whether it would be the best step forward. But now, having survived the three-year course, I can honestly say I made the right decision. Without the resources at the University of Northampton, I would not have had the knowledge or opportunity to explore these weird and wonderful alternative methods being practised in fashion. I did not know it before, but it is what I love about fashion and I’m looking forward to continuing to study these methods after my graduation.
What was the starting point of inspiration for your final project?
You could say that my final collection started way back in second year. I attended a lecture about contemporary designers that are currently practicing weird and wonderful methods of sustainability within fashion. One of these designers was Suzzanne Lee who first practised this idea of ‘growing garments’ and I found this intriguing. In a TED talk from 2011, Lee spoke about, once the clothing is no longer needed, we can “…biodegrade it naturally along with your vegetable peelings.” Studying fashion at university has made me more aware of the waste produced in all aspects of the process, whether it is from the seemingly endless toiling process to the offcuts of the final fabrics. Therefore, this idea that the garment could be composted really appealed to me.
Inspired by this, I spent my summer trialling and developing this method for myself. It was with rigorous repeat testing that I perfected the proportions of tea, sugar and vinegar and conditions needed for optimum growth which would prove incredibly useful to optimise the limited time that is third year. Fitting a concept to the final fabric seemed to happen naturally as well. Taking inspiration from the green tea, one of the key ingredients in the growing process, I chose to link it to the Japanese Tea Ceremony and compare the method of growth to that of the carrying out of the ceremony. I spent a lot of time over the summer visiting a variety of exhibitions. Fashion exhibitions such as ‘Christian Dior; Designer of Dreams’ were incredibly inspiring for shape and concept ideas, however, ‘Food: Bigger than the Plate’ was also inspiring as it explored the food industry and one of the avenues was the waste that’s produced from it - it made me turn vegetarian in truth.
From all my summer research, of attending exhibitions, talks and seminars, I was inspired at how the majority of my design heroes, McQueen, Galliano, Dior, had turned to Japan for inspiration at some point in a collection. This was another reason as to why I wanted to incorporate something from Japanese culture into my collection. I wanted to create a collection that, once it was no longer wanted, could all be thrown on the compost heap, embedding itself in the circular supply chain.
What form will your final project take?
My final graduate collection will be in the form of six garments which will have strong sustainable roots by being made from fabrics that can bio-degrade. This will mean that once the collection is no longer needed, it can be thrown on the compost heap to decompose naturally. Initially, my design process was formed by collage - where I made shapes, and eventually outfits, by cutting and layering sections from my research sketchbooks. The collaging method meant that these initial designs were very conceptual which I loved because I feel like more conceptual pieces are more artistic and creative.
However, I worked at developing these shapes back to more wearable pieces - ideal for catwalks and consumers. When designing, I was heavily inspired by my previous sketchbook work and wanted to create many of the bold yet simple shapes that had formed from researching my concept. I wanted the Japanese research and influence to be clear when an audience was looking at my designs, therefore I looked at two specific elements of my research - the kimono and origami.
To comply with my active approach of using methods that reduce the amount of waste produced from my garment production, I looked at the kimono as these are traditionally made by zero-waste patterns. I also combined this with traditional origami techniques as these are zero waste too. These methods were also useful because of the limited amount of home-grown Bacteria Cellulose I had available to use. As it was such a laborious process to grow each individual sheet of Bacteria Cellulose, I wanted to get as much out of each piece as possible without having much waste. Therefore origami techniques of folding rather than cutting were beneficial.
What materials have you used and how did you source them?
As a practice of sustainability, I have designed my collection to be completely bio-degradable. The main focus of my collection is the fabric I have grown myself which is known as Bacteria Cellulose. It is completely bio-degradable and decomposable so complies with my mantra to reduce waste produced from the garments I make. I have worked to perfect my method of growing the Bacteria Cellulose over the summer break with rigorous and repetitive testing. The mixture of green tea, sugar, vinegar and bacteria have been worked out in ideal measurements to ensure optimum growth in the limited time that is third year. As the Bacteria Cellulose can also be easily dyed, I started to experiment with altering the colouring to suit the colour palette of my final collection.
I would have loved to make the entire collection from nothing but the Bacteria Cellulose, however, issues of space and time meant that I would not have had enough and therefore I have had to source alternative fabrics to help compliment the Bacteria Cellulose and lift the collection. To compliment my home-grown fabrics, I have sourced 100% natural materials that will bio-degrade alongside the Bacteria Cellulose. I have sourced red and brown linen from myfabrics.co.uk. The fabric is 100% linen. Linen is a timeless classic that can be worn in all seasons and is also a natural material that is grown easily. ‘Happy Hide’. Washable paper sourced from www.frumble.co.uk. Washable paper is a plant-based alternative to leather.
With similar characteristics and properties, ‘Happy Hide’ is a completely biodegradable fabric, accredited by both the Forestry Stewardship Council and Oeko-Tex. It can be washed to achieve a more flexible manner, as well as having the structure to hold its shape. It can be printed, embossed, folded, laser-cut, sewn and much more. It is widely recognised as a vegan-friendly material and a viable alternative to many leather-based products. Bamboo Silk sourced from www.raystitch.co.uk. Woven using 100% Oeko-Tex certified bamboo, this is beautiful vegan silk is lightweight but also offers a heavy-looking drape that sits beautifully against the body.
How has it evolved from your initial ideas and what have you learnt along the way?
Due to the nature of using such a niche and new material that I have never worked with before, my collection has been constantly evolving just due to the natural growing process. From my research over the summer, I found that Bacteria Cellulose can be grown in any sized container, meaning that it will grow to the same size and shape of that container. The procurement of the containers was not so much the issue, more the space to store them so that they all still had access to air and the optimum growing conditions. Although the University of Northampton was very accommodating with space for me to store my containers, the different spaces meant different growing conditions for the Bacteria - altering the time. This was one of the reasons about how my designs were forced to evolve as this meant that I was going to be limited by the amount of material I had to make with.
Therefore, I had to alter my designs to be simpler with less fabric to accommodate what I had. My designs and garments have always been rather conceptual. Usually, through using a collaging method, I create these conceptual pieces by layering sections from my research sketchbooks around body figures to make something that resembled clothing of some kind. Initially, I preferred this method as I felt it more artistic and a better reflection of what I believe fashion to be; an art form. However, I have since evolved and developed these initial ideas to be more wearable by people so that they are more appealing to my intended audience. I have learnt that although conceptual garments are fun to make and interesting to look at, parts of fashion do need to be wearable and I have adapted my designs to suit this.
Also, rather than having a specific customer in mind, to prolong the life of the garments, I have designed them for a unisex market so that they can be worn by everybody. My collection has focused and been heavily reliant on nature and it has forced me to learn that as much as you try, you can not rush nature - and when you do, that is usually when things start to go wrong. It has forced me to take my time, check and recheck things before moving onto the next stage - something which I’m sure I will be taking on into my career.
What are the messages and themes behind your project that you want people to take away? Do explore any topics like diversity, sustainability or politics in your work?
My collection explores the practice of sustainability within fashion and hopefully highlights alternative methods of fabric sourcing that are out there for designers that are interested in pursuing that area of fashion. To me, sustainability should be a must in fashion today. As the fashion industry is such an important part of the economy as well as being such a heavy polluter on the environment, every designer should be working to incorporate some form of sustainability within their work. My work aims to look at alternative materials that will reduce the environmental impact of the garments they are used to create, whilst also embedding them in the circular supply chain. As a fashion student, I was not able to understand the true importance of sustainability in fashion until I was studying at university.
If the importance of this information was made clearer to me from a younger age, I would have been able to think more sustainably and make better decisions when designing and developing previous projects. It is with this understanding, why I believe that sustainable fashion needs to be begun being taught at younger levels and throughout education so that up and coming designers are raised with a keen sense of it so that they can use it to shape the future of fashion.
My collection also touches upon diversity issues. My collection is diverse in the sense that it has been designed as a unisex collection. This diversifies each garment and makes the prospective audience greater. With all my previous projects, I have not designed for specific gender and have more focused on just designing for a neutral figure. This is because in the ever-developing society that we are living in, gendered clothing is becoming less of conformity and I want my clothing to be worn by anyone who wants to wear them. I want the people that are interested in my collection to take away from it that as young designers we should be trying new methods and be getting inspired by other disciplines to see if they can inspire fashion somehow.
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
As I have said previously, although I am aware of companies starting to take sustainability seriously and being more proactive in integrating it within their products, the waste produced from the fashion industry is still too high. I believe that as designers, we have the power to influence and target this change - whether that is through designing with a wider knowledge of new, more sustainable fabrics that are being developed, to shopping more eco-consciously ourselves.
Companies like H&M and ZARA with their ‘Conscious’ and ‘Join Life’ ranges are great examples of how the high street markets are starting to change. In addition, there are other companies that are developing alternative materials such as fabric spun from the yarns of banana peels or the development of Piñatex - fabric made from pineapple leaves. These are 100% natural, bio-degradable, and often bi-products from other industries, meaning that no extra effort needs to be carried out in order to grow them.
Within my collection, due to the bio-degradable nature of my materials, I have enjoyed being able to put any offcuts straight on the compost pile to de-compose straight away. In the future, I want to develop new materials that are more sustainable and industry-friendly so that one day everyone will be able to dispose of unwanted garments naturally and with no negative effects on the environment. I would love for this to be the case for all garments one day. I think that the way the industry is moving towards sustainability, it is only a matter of time before it becomes an essential part of the production of our everyday garments - and I would like to be a part of that movement that made that change happen.
What is your plan once you finish your BA?
As much as I would love to say another gap year, I think it is time to start getting my hands dirty. Being a fresh graduate, I’m open to any opportunities that come up. However, I would love to go down one of two routes in particular. Hopefully made clear by my final collection, fabric development is something I am very keen on. I feel like the possibilities are endless when it comes to making new fabrics as it has been proven that they could quite possibly be made from anything in the future.
As all garments are made from fabric, I want to be involved in the development side of things as I feel that this is the key to combating sustainability and encouraging it to happen by producing industry-friendly materials. I also feel like I have not yet exhausted the possibilities that the Bacteria Cellulose can provide so I’d like to continue developing that in some way. Also, I would love to be involved in costume design somehow. In amongst all the skills I have been lucky enough to learn at university, in-depth concept research has become something I thoroughly enjoy and would like to continue with in the future.
As I understand it, costume design does have a heavy focus on this as background research to do with time periods and characters needs to be extensive. I interned with costumer maker, Guna Dubrovska, where I assisted in the making of key pieces which were worn in a New York art exhibition earlier this year. This taught me that I am a keen machinist and I also really enjoy the physical making more one-off, stand-alone pieces that can be worn on a stage or in a film for example. By working in costume design, I can learn more about styling and accessorising to fit with a certain aesthetic also.