386 SEPTEMBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
CALLING PLANET
EARTH
Reduce, reuse, recycle... repeat? That’s more or less the mantra for American designers
leading the charge on sustainability. To be innovative in 2019 is to care about how
that garment is made, who makes it, and what happens to it when we no longer want
it. One recent advancement: upcycling—turning something old into something new.
Repurposing old fabrics or cutting a vintage dress into a shirt means extending the life
cycle of a garment, thus reducing its carbon footprint. New York designers have been
particularly resourceful upcyclers—perhaps no one
more so than Emily Adams Bode, who makes pieces
from vintage quilts, antique bed linens, and even old
napkins that are so beautiful you’d never think about
throwing them away. After decades upon decades
when the vast majority of our clothing ultimately sits
in landfills, the notion of creating heirlooms is,
almost shockingly, of the moment.—e m i ly fa r r a
WORLD NEWS
FROM INVENTIVE INDEPENDENTS
TO GLOBAL POWERHOUSES,
AMERICAN DESIGN HAS PURSUED
THE SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS AND
SUSTAINABLE: WITNESS AURORA
JAMES OF BROTHER VELLIES (TOP
LEFT), BODE (TOP RIGHT), AND
PATAGONIA (ABOVE)
THE UNITED STATES OF FASHION
PATAGONIA
BROTHER
VELLIES
BODE BROTHER VELLIES: GREG HARRIS,
VOGUE,
2015. BODE: RYAN MCGINLEY,
VOGUE,
2018. PATAGONIA: NORMAN JEAN ROY,
VOGUE,
2009.
