Never has foil looked more attractive and alluring than how it's been used here by Urban Outfitters' new Urban Renewal collection.
The premise of the line is based on recycling old vintage clothing and updating them to look modern and new.
In the world of fast fashion chains and disposable style, I am obsessed with this innovative way to recycle clothes. The Urban Outfitters website notes that each piece is handmade in a Philadelphia factory making each one a unique creation. It's like a Chinatown sweatshop meets Etsy entrepreneur meets Greenpeace environmental activist meets Jackson Pollock.
This may be the next big thing. Let's face it. We've seen disposable fashion that began with H&M's first American store and the rise of Target. Then it evolved to personalized fashion with everyone having anything and everything monogrammed with their Christian and stripper names. Augment this wave of mass consumption with the explosion of fashion bloggers, street style photographers and fashion TV competitions and you reach a tipping point. Everyone has access to fashion and what you lose is the individual. What was once personal style is fodder that can be copied by kids from Helsinki to Dubai through a single blogpost. Skinny jeans, Uggs and Ray-ban sunglasses are ubiquitous worldwide.
Urban Renewal is the post fashion recovery effort after a decade long of buy, buy, buy. It's on trend with the "shop my closet" post Great Recession mentality and supported by H&M's new 2013 efforts that will reward consumers who drop off a bag of used clothes at their stores with an in-store discount. Even the founding father of $1 ready to wear must have realized that they can only create the same $1 t-shirt before the consumer realizes that they have every color imaginable. So once this clicks, they stop shopping because even they realize that it's too much.
YES
It's time to move on. It's time to grow up and to be smarter about the fashionable things we consume. It's time to go green.
If you have the time, extra roll of aluminum foil, a hair dryer and design talents, perhaps you can do this on your own. This will help you reclaim your personal style...well at least until the Sartorialist photographs it and H&M copies and sells it for a $1.
NO
Al Gore didn't design this line and I doubt a painted and bleached sweater will save a polar bear. Well, at least for now.
MAYBE
The DIY approach helps with your carbon footprint, but you also risk looking cheap like you were the losing look on a recent Project Runaway eco-challenge.
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