Books by Holly McQuillan
Approximately fifteen percent of the fabric used to create a piece of clothing ends up in a landf... more Approximately fifteen percent of the fabric used to create a piece of clothing ends up in a landfill, but the zero waste fashion design movement aims to change this. In Yield, we see the work of passionate New Zealand and international fashion designers who have a radical ambition – to make fashion without making waste. Zero waste fashion focuses on creating clothes that look good, but leave little or no waste. Historically, all clothes were designed to minimise waste. Left over fabric was never thrown out and patterns were designed like a puzzle, as seen in the Japanese kimono. The industrial revolution changed this approach as cloth became cheaper and seemingly easier to throw away. Zero waste clothing began reappearing in the first half of the 20th century. Contemporary pioneers such as Zandra Rhodes emerged in the 1970s and since then, more designers have started experimenting with designs and smart techniques to eliminate waste - without sacrificing style. One such technique is to create a garment pattern, with gussets, pockets, collars and trims, that fits together like a puzzle. Another is to not cut the fabric, but drape it onto a mannequin, then tuck, layer and sew. Today, zero waste has become a focus for top fashion schools and an inspiration of the truly fashion forward.
Chapter in: Shaping Sustainable Fashion: Changing the Way We Make and Use Clothes
"The production, use and eventual disposal of most clothing is environmentally damaging, and many... more "The production, use and eventual disposal of most clothing is environmentally damaging, and many fashion and textile designers are becoming keen to employ more sustainable strategies in their work. This book provides a practical guide to the ways in which designers are creating fashion with less waste and greater durability.
Based on the results of extensive research into lifecycle approaches to sustainable fashion, the book is divided into four sections:
- Source explores the motivations for the selection of materials for fashion garments and suggests that garments can be made from materials that also assist in the management of textile waste.
- Make discusses the differing approaches to the design and manufacture of sustainable fashion garments that can also provide the opportunity for waste control and minimization.
- Use explores schemes that encourage the consumer to engage in slow fashion consumption.
- Last examines alternative solutions to the predictable fate of most garments - landfill.
Illustrated throughout with case studies of best practice from international designers and fashion labels and written in a practical, accessible style, this is a must-have guide for fashion and textile designers and students in their areas.""
Eco Fashion
One of the strongest trends in fashion is the expression of ecological, social and community cons... more One of the strongest trends in fashion is the expression of ecological, social and community consciousness through for-profit fashion design corporations, which most recently have moved upscale from organic cotton T-shirts and hippy-ish drawstring pants to high fashion. There is now a wide range of companies offering well designed merchandise, from one-off art, recycled and redesigned clothing, organic and sustainable textiles and garment production, to a range of community and indigenous support cooperatives bridging the gap between traditional craft and high fashion.
This book shows the range of companies making a difference in the area of sustainable design in fashion, exploding the myth that sustainable design is bad design, or at best basic design, by highlighting the range of companies producing desirable and well-designed apparel and accessories with a conscience. It not only demonstrates the range of products available around the globe, but explains the stories behind them and the communities they support, as well as showing how and where they make a difference.
Papers by Holly McQuillan
Make/Use: A System for Open Source, User-Modifiable, Zero Waste Fashion Practice
Fashion Practice
The evolving discourse on zero waste fashion design addresses justifications and approaches for d... more The evolving discourse on zero waste fashion design addresses justifications and approaches for designing and making these garments in ways that attempt to fit within the existing structure of fashion education and industry. However, little has been explored about the relationship between the outcomes of zero waste fashion design and the potentially elevated fashion user experience it might enable. This paper and associated creative works explore the emerging field of enriching the fashion user experience: the post-production and post-retail environment; an area that historically the fashion industry has given little attention to. MakeUse builds on Kate Fletcher’s work within Local Wisdom, specifically in the context of what she terms the Craft of Use of clothing, and the application of knowledge and skill which enables us to “mitigate … intensify, and adapt” clothing to suit our lives. MakeUse places zero waste fashion practice in the context of user practice, where the user becomes an agent in both the design and ongoing use and modification of the garment. Through actions and opportunities facilitated by the designer, an enriched designer/maker/user relationship is possible. Using methods such as digital textile print and embroidery, embedded instructional material, online support and distributed production, MakeUse provides user modifiable zero waste fashion products and an associated product use experience that acknowledges both the opportunities and limitations each user brings, while intensifying their skills, knowledge, needs and desires
The Cutting Circle is an international research initiative by fashion designers/patternmakers and... more The Cutting Circle is an international research initiative by fashion designers/patternmakers and educators Timo Rissanen, Julian Roberts and Holly McQuillan. By exploring alternative methods of making clothes and patterns, we have employed 'risky' design practice, research and teaching to develop zero waste fashion and subtraction cutting. The project manifested as an intensive two-week practice-based research event, where via a series of collaborative
collisions, experiments and design intersections, we asked the following three questions. What costs/benefits can we identify to aid the development of a sustainable fashion industry through risk taking at the intersection of our design practices? What new knowledge arises in risky collaborative design practice? And how can this new knowledge be best communicated to foster an environment of risk-taking within the traditionally risk adverse fashion industry? This paper primarily discusses our responses to the first two questions and
related issues raised. It covers how experimenting with each other’s design practice and practicing in each other’s creative space as we both designed and made, enable the free transfer of ideas and cross-pollination, thus expanding our ability to identify links, gaps and opportunities. The Cutting Circle project has developed experimental practices with emphasis on the fusion of aesthetics, patternmaking, craft and socially invigorating design.
This paper discusses the conflict inherent in the notion of sustainability and the current model ... more This paper discusses the conflict inherent in the notion of sustainability and the current model of fashion consumption. In it I examine the discord I experience when attempting to negotiate this awkward space as a designer, educator and lover of clothes. At the heart of well-being is the idea that actions need to be in alignment with personal beliefs. When they are not, we experience what was coined by social psychologist Leon Festinger (1957) as 'Cognitive Dissonance'. This discord is a driving force behind the actions of those who wish to live sustainably, and explains the unease experienced when people genuinely want to 'do good' but do not, either out of habit or by not having the tools or systems available to do so. When designing and educating for fashion I am confronted with the question - how can designing be truly 'sustainable' when I am working within a system that is geared towards the propagation of the Next New Thing? Faced with William McDonough and Michael Braungart's observation that less bad is not good enough, the moral, social and environmental minefield that is fashion design leads me to fret that less bad may currently be the only way forward without a drastic redesign of the fashion system itself. Infuriatingly I still love fashion. The awkward space I find myself in is reflected in my design work, which balances precariously between order and disarray, fashion and anti-fashion. This article focuses on my own design practice to negotiate a way through.
Teaching Documents by Holly McQuillan
Catalogues by Holly McQuillan
This publication was written and compiled over the 5 weeks that Make/Use showed at Objectspace Ga... more This publication was written and compiled over the 5 weeks that Make/Use showed at Objectspace Gallery in Auckland in July-August 2015.
Make/Use explores what might occur if we consider not only the aesthetic of the garments we wear, but also the way we use them and the waste we create when we make them. This ongoing research-through-design project questions conventions of the clothing industry in relation to knowledge-keeping, production practices and material use. Through developing open-source, user-modifiable, zero waste designs, Make/Use aims to empower users of clothing, and challenges them to question the relationships they have with their present and future garments.
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Books by Holly McQuillan
Based on the results of extensive research into lifecycle approaches to sustainable fashion, the book is divided into four sections:
- Source explores the motivations for the selection of materials for fashion garments and suggests that garments can be made from materials that also assist in the management of textile waste.
- Make discusses the differing approaches to the design and manufacture of sustainable fashion garments that can also provide the opportunity for waste control and minimization.
- Use explores schemes that encourage the consumer to engage in slow fashion consumption.
- Last examines alternative solutions to the predictable fate of most garments - landfill.
Illustrated throughout with case studies of best practice from international designers and fashion labels and written in a practical, accessible style, this is a must-have guide for fashion and textile designers and students in their areas.""
This book shows the range of companies making a difference in the area of sustainable design in fashion, exploding the myth that sustainable design is bad design, or at best basic design, by highlighting the range of companies producing desirable and well-designed apparel and accessories with a conscience. It not only demonstrates the range of products available around the globe, but explains the stories behind them and the communities they support, as well as showing how and where they make a difference.
Papers by Holly McQuillan
collisions, experiments and design intersections, we asked the following three questions. What costs/benefits can we identify to aid the development of a sustainable fashion industry through risk taking at the intersection of our design practices? What new knowledge arises in risky collaborative design practice? And how can this new knowledge be best communicated to foster an environment of risk-taking within the traditionally risk adverse fashion industry? This paper primarily discusses our responses to the first two questions and
related issues raised. It covers how experimenting with each other’s design practice and practicing in each other’s creative space as we both designed and made, enable the free transfer of ideas and cross-pollination, thus expanding our ability to identify links, gaps and opportunities. The Cutting Circle project has developed experimental practices with emphasis on the fusion of aesthetics, patternmaking, craft and socially invigorating design.
Teaching Documents by Holly McQuillan
Catalogues by Holly McQuillan
Make/Use explores what might occur if we consider not only the aesthetic of the garments we wear, but also the way we use them and the waste we create when we make them. This ongoing research-through-design project questions conventions of the clothing industry in relation to knowledge-keeping, production practices and material use. Through developing open-source, user-modifiable, zero waste designs, Make/Use aims to empower users of clothing, and challenges them to question the relationships they have with their present and future garments.