Can we really look to the past to take us into the future?

In the world every action has an opposite and equal reaction. This law of motion holds true even in the world of fashion. In recent years the bounds made in technological advances in and around the field of fashion have created a back lash against these new innovations, with people becoming more aware of the effect they are having on the environment. One specific outcome of this has been an increase in hand made products.

Not for the first time in fashion history has a new way of thinking or living created an opposing set of ideals and practicalities. At the turn of the 20th century the modernist ideas and way of life resulted in an upsurge in the arts and craft movement, and many artists, who influenced fashion, chose to return to the traditional methods of painting and making intricately designed objects and garments.

At present the technology now available to the everyday consumer and the almost endless technologically produced materials and fabrics have created a back lash in society, in those who believe that forwards and faster is not necessarily the way to go. There is a minority who believe that returning to natural materials and garment construction methods produces more satisfying garments as well as reducing the carbon foot print that high tech products and production is creating.

Designers such as Clare Tough have encouraged this back lash with her incredible runway designs, all knitted and crocheted by hand. She gives us sound evidence that even high fashion can be created by using older tradit ional methods and with natural, carbon neutral products such as cotton and wool. This use of older techniques here creates as detailed and intricate designs as some garments made using the latest technology, and is definitely equally stunning on the runway.

So is this the way to go? Should we looking backwards into the future? There is no doubt that the value of possession could increase if we stopped manufacturing at such a high rate. But realistically how can you stop supply when there is such a great demand not only for cheap mass made products but also expensive high tech ones? The challenge would be to influence the masses and entice them to prefer, and so demand, handmade specialist items over mass made high tech.

If you think about it do we really need any more aesthetically pleasing items that have the same functions as the gadgets we already have? To own things just to say we own them. Are Hussein Chalayan’s moving dresses really things that betters our lives in any way. If we need to reduce the impact we are having on our planet surely these should be the first things to go. Medical advances use technology in a way which enhances the quality of our lives in some way and maybe they would get more recognition and better facilities if less of our time was being devoted to making a table that can transform into a dress.

So do you think technology could be put to better use? The simple law of motion, action to reaction. Is it time we started having a greater impact with the actions we take in regards to the environment. Fashion always wants to be at the forefront and should be trying to developing an image which can put them at the forefront in reducing carbon footprints. Should we be looking further back to a simpler time where we were just as well off in terms of clothes and personal necessities and focus our use of technology on practices which will be more beneficial to our both our physical and ethical wellbeing? This may be a minority’s utopia which like all previous imagined ideals may never happen, but could the world become a better place if we simply knitted our own jumpers?