#10 Fashion with a conscience

Baseball Puffball Dress

My family have a a certain dislike towards second-hand shops. Actually, 'dislike' might be an understatement, 'fear' would be a better word choice. My only visits to a second-hand shop was to Goodwills to donate clothing, and when I asked my aunt to go to the shopping side of goodwills, she gave me the look. I never understood why some people look down on second-hand items. Sometimes you can find useful and interesting things that you can longer buy in a normal store. Thrift store is like heaven to vintage lovers. Yet many people associate it with being poor. Fashion designer Gary Harvey realizes this as decided to do something that will make people rethink their perception of second-hand clothing.

Military Dress

"I believe we can contribute to an ethical fashion revolution." he says in his website. "By sourcing fabrics and raw materials that have literally been thrown away, you can look good and be good too. Too many garments are deemed aesthetically redundant and discarded at the end of a season, when there are still many years of wear left."

Denim Dress

His first project is a dress made with 42 pairs of used Levi jeans. Soon his passion of creating eco-friendly cloths grew, and he created more ball-gowns using second-hand materials. Now, Harvey's dress collection have been in many exhibitions and even expanded to taking private commissions.

Newspaper Dress

I find this project absolutely fascinating. For the last decades everything are trying to be 'eco-friendly'. 'Eco-friendly power scoures', 'eco-friendly travling', 'eco-friendly living'... Yet many people buying a prom dress that they will probably wear once before it is tucked away, and people are throwing away perfectly fine jacket that are apparently 'out of season'. Ball-gowns are one of these 'wear-once-per-year' and 'easily-out-dated' but 'cost-more-then-my-yearly-salary' luxuries. And Harvey use material that have been thrown away to make glamorous, and perhaps awakening, dresses.

Wedding Dress

Visit Gary Harvey at http://www.garyharveycreative.com/

#1 Mori Girls

Many of you may have heard of lolita, ganguru and other Japanese trends, they are the product of Japan's unique society. But the rise of Mori Girls is a proof that some might just want to go back to nature.
Mori Girl literally means 'forest girl', it's a new fashion trend that started in Japan in 2007. It was started by Japanese Actress Aoi Yuu with her role of Hanamoto Hagumi in 2006 drama Honey and Clover (originally a manga by Umino Chika). Mori Girls have down-to-earth life style, and wear natural coloured clothing and vintage accessories. Although it has a short history, Mori Girls quickly gain support of many Japanese girls and even spread to Europe.

Aoi Yuu as Hagu

They aim to have a 'natural' look, to portrait someone who live in the forest. They do their hair in a natural way (wavy, braided) and sports organic hair pieces like flower and lace. Contrary to most Japanese fashion trends, the Mori Girls prefer little or no make up. Organic one-piece dress, earmuff, and fluffy hats and scarf are all the signature of Mori Girls. They love oversize, puffy clothing and layers (Layer is a major part of Mori Girls). Being a Mori Girl may sound simple, but it is the exact opposite, there are many small details in how a Mori Girl dress, and living like one is certainly easy....

The major part of being a Mori Girl is actually living like one. They have a very down-to-earth approach to things and enjoying things that are what I call 'enviormental'. Mori girls love to drink tea and enjoying time with friends, collecting thing, and taking photographs. (One of the rules of Mori Girls is to carry a camera with you all the time. What is different from other Japanese girls is that instead of taking photo of themselves, they take photo of little things in life.) Mori Girls are fascinated by European cultures. Northern Europe, London and Germany are the main influence in Mori Girl's life style.

The Mori Girls are a interesting phenomenon in Japan. Many other popular Japanese fashion trends (or should I call life style) are perhaps focused in look (I'm generalizing, as Lolitas and many others also have a 'specisfic' life style like Mori Girls, but Mori Girls' life style are the most distinctive and different from others). Mori girls goes against every other trends. Sporting no make up (or natural), flats, and easy-to-the-eye colours. It is almost like these girls are going backward - back to the origin of everything. Japan is the country of technology and invention, yet these girls (and boys) are rebelling against everything that country is. There is a Chinese saying call '物極必反': Things will develop in the opposite when they become extreme, perhaps this is why Mori Girls was created.

Japan not only view fashion as clothes, but a life style. Becoming a Mori Girl is not just about dressing like one, but being one.
Do you want to be a Mori girl? Check out this list created by the original Japanese Mori Girls and translated by the English Mori Girls community.

http://community.livejournal.com/morigirls/1122.html#cutid1

Photo sources:

http://www.flutterscape.com/product/no/4947/mori-girl-style-halter-neck-one-piece-dress

http://herlumpiness.blogspot.com/2010/12/very-mori-winter.html