Maybe it all started when I grew up in Washington State, trekking through the mountains, squashed into a packed car with my brother to camp out at Mount Rainier, exploring the Oregon coastline, or visiting the urban jungles of Seattle. Wherever it was, the one common thread was learning a love for the journey and the ‘awe’ factor in every environment. Now, looking back from my early 30′s, I can say to my girlfriends that what continues to inspire me down to my core is a “love for the journey and the ‘awe’ factor in every environment.” I hope to inspire the idea that what we choose to do on our journeys now will have an effect on our future environments and peoples tomorrow.
The Bobo Collection
Maybe it all started when my mom sewed the first outfit I can remember wearing to school, oddly, an army outfit (hat, shirt and pants). And how cool did I look sporting a fashionably stylish military inspired handmade garment at the age of eight. Well luckily it was accepted amongst my peers, and my mom gained celeb status as the clothing designer amongst my friends. I grew up around a sewing machine, a needle, a piece of thread, and fabric, fabric, fabric. At a young age my mom took me shopping not for clothes, but to the fabric stores. If I wanted a prom dress, a cabbage patch kid, a purse, or an off the shoulder shirt, it was going to be sewn. The DIY (Do It Yourself) mantra struck a chord at a young age. It may have been a slower process to acquire my stylish digs but I learned that I would appreciate slow sew over consumption any day. I can liken it to the mantra your parents always tell you, “chew your food slowly” not only to digest it but to enjoy it.
My mom’s favorite thing to do at the fabric stores was digging through the piles and piles of scraps, leftovers, off-cuts, found at the fabric stores, to happen upon that one good quality textiled gem with that one vibrant color or wild print. She would also incorporate generational fabrics, like lace my grandmother hand stitched onto her new creations. If she wanted flower power symbols on her jeans, she would embellish them by hand. Many times I would hear my mom say to herself, “I need a new outfit,” and then that sewing machine motor would start running in her studio, on the kitchen table, in a bedroom, all depending on where we lived at the time. An hour later she was ready to go out in a beautiful one-of-a-kind shift dress covered in wild prints (her fav!) which would later inspire her nickname BOBO a.k.a. Bodacious Bohemian.
Jerah
As I grew into my prepubescent age, if I wanted to go to the mall, I was taught to support the local fashion. Either I was getting a new handmade outfit or I was driven to a resale shop or a local Goodwill. Still, not yet knowing the mall’s own status factor that would be thwarted on me by my friends, I loved to hunt for finds elsewhere. If something did not fit, my mother fitted it to me. If I did not like the way a sleeve looked on a garment, she redesigned it. If I wanted a cool new denim purse, she taught me how to buy an old pair of jeans and make that denim purse. Little did I know the 21st Century fashion world would call this upcycling (turning one item in to a totally different item). And, if I was sick of my clothes I learned to give them back to these places; fashion recycling at it’s best. I also learned to sew, but not as good as my mom. I do love it, and I do need to learn more. Overall, I put together wild outfits, never fitting the magazine molds, and always encouraged to go avant garde. Luckily, I felt like the West Coast was more accepting of my leopard print legging, pink sweater wearing, high top shoe sporting, spiky hair cut, limited edition fashion sense that the East Coast was in shock over. Even though we moved to New England when I was 12, I still chose my crazy ways over the cliquish, Champion brand-wearing clones.
Or maybe it all started when I left my creative family unit (surrounded by both a fashionably inclined mother and musically inclined father) to study the social sciences in college to understand why and how humans choose to interact with their environments, and what inspires their journeys. To then work in the nonprofit sector for a decade, to realize that I am just a passionate person who wants to get back to her top three loves; my mom, fashion and the environment. As I was working on a nonprofit concept up north to empower women’s socio-economic status, I thought, what better way to begin than with yourself and your own mom; one woman at a time. I came to understand through my decade of mission visions that the biggest change you can make is with oneself. It trickles, it ripples, it seeps, and it spreads to those around you.
Jerah and Russet
Today, me and my mom eat, breathe and live fabric. We are an emerging mother-daughter design team that seeks to be a part of the movement that democratizes fashion from the big box store to the small independent onliner. We have made a pledge to be ecovogue for 365 days in 2010. With that idea, we built a business that brings to the scene an experimental project towards sustainable fashion. Now in my fashion life I incorporate organic materials, sustainably sourced materials, fair trade garments, convertible clothing to get more outfits out of one, environmentally friendly inks, and material that is made in America. Every time I purchase a garment, I am asking myself the underlying ethical question, “ how was this garment processed from farm to fashion?”
After much, much, much research, I get that in order to sustain fashion we need a broader definition of sustainable fashion in which we need manufacturers, retailers, sewers, buyers, and customers all interested in and ready to make a shift. And it is happening! To us, in our little business, that definition includes all of the 20 above highlighted ecovogue365 principles that have patterned my life and I hope they can pattern yours.
An Eco Fashion Journey Patterned from My World to Yours republished with permission from the EcoVogue365.com/blog.
Jerah
Jerah Coviello writes the monthly blog feature, EcoVogue365 and is a guest blogger for Girl Power Hour, covering eco-fashion tips and sustainable clothing for the Earth loving woman. With a background in social sciences, nonprofit, sports, arts and the environment, Jerah brings her passions together with her bodacious mom, in one creative expression. Ecovogue365 is an experimental handcrafted project towards sustainable fashion for the 21st-century woman. Find Ecovogue365 on Facebook and Twitter. It’s more than just fashion, it’s care for people, profit and planet.
thanks a lot for this one. my wife loved this article