Sustainable Fashion from “The Uniform Project”
Written by Urban Sherp on July 3rd, 2009
Sheena Matheiken is the real life Amelie. Adorable and spunky and with a style that is uniquely her own. For The Uniform Project, Matheiken has pledged to wear the same basic black dress (well 1 of 7 of the same dress) for an entire year wearing it in 365 different ways. All to raise money for the Akanksha Foundation with provides education opportunities for underprivileged children in India. At the same time she is making a powerful environmental statement in sustainable fashion and that perhaps, we can, and should, make due with less.She must be the Satorialist’s dream and easily could be the entry on his site each and every day with her inspired outfits. She has a flair for the original, pairing the dress with accessories from her own closet, etsy or from donated items she reinvents her look each day. Amazing what a pair of knee socks, a belt, a collared shirt, a petticoat, or a jaunty cap can do for a little black shift dress, (sadly knee socks look ridiculous on most of us, but the impish Matheiken can totally pull it off). Seriously, she is a magician, her wedding outfit with flits of gold and bronze was just brilliant. Am always looking forward to what she will put together next.
If you are completely bored with your wardrobe, instead of running off to the mall to fill the void, take a look at Matheiken’s diary of style and discover hidden inspiration in your own closet. Maybe you’ll find you can survive with one less dress, a purchase that might be better spent on the education of a young child.
Side note: Similar projects have been done by Andrea Zittel for her Uniform Project, she would create one new dress every six months and wear it until she designed the next one and Alex Martin’s Brown Dress Project where she also wore the same dress for one year all in stand against consumerism.