ion. For example, not to try to make all fashion “slower”, but instead to see which
parts could be positively effected, to make fashion ”slower” in some parts, empha-
sising quality and timelessness, yet on the other hand finding library-like product
sharing possibilities for the “faster” fashion (Fletcher 2008). Not one solution is
needed but rather a multitude of them.
However it is most important is to keep fashion as a force or a vehicle for social
change and not to disconnect from fashion or think that its intensity only consists
of “bad” forces. The experiments can be disconnected from the profit-driven econ-
omy and be run as open labs in the art galleries, but they will be more productive
when connected to the system, for it is these energies we need if we are going to aim
for a multiplicity of small changes.
My hope is that new experiments will expose other forms of symbiogenetic coop-
eration and develop our first attempt with the VakkoVamps, to connect various
actors, levels, approaches and practices in fashion. I am not pessimistic regarding
this issue as one day there will be more of us, and perhaps most importantly, the
VakkoVamps project should not necessarily be seen as a failure.
&
The opening of the exhibition at the gallery attracted considerable attention in the
local magazines and the photos from the VakkoVamps project was given a full
spread in Turkey’s largest morning paper, Hürriet. The first day after the opening a
girl rushed into the gallery on her way to school and wanted to show us something.
She had read the papers and liked the bag Megan Nicolay had made from a man’s
shirt. With the help of a magnifying glass she had studied the photograph in detail
and made a bag herself from her father’s old shirt. She proudly wanted to show us
her work, making a small pirouette to parade her new design, before hurrying
away. At first we were perplexed. What had just happened? How had she managed
to make it so quick? How could she have seen the details? We soon understood that
this was what we had intended from the very beginning. Displaying these hacked
garments in a fashion way had opened doors to new possibilities and also encour-
aged people to do things themselves, and making them feel fashionable as well as
being craftsmen. The collaboration with the big brand had collapsed, but new
doors had been opened. People who could not in any case buy Vakko garments
were instead the ones now taking part in the exhibition and who were very hands-
on engaged in our workshops. New action spaces were opened. The girl with her
new bag had proved to us that this type of design practice was not flawed and she
proved to us we were all engaged in sharing a scene, that was at the same time both
fashionably glossy and simple handcraft. We were on our way to be fashion-able.
&
In this chapter we have seen how professional and amateur scenes are not necessar-
ily separated but can offer new forms of knowledge production and a shared devel-
opment of methods, practice and skills. We have followed the Hackers and Haute
Couture Heretics exhibition and the VakkoVamps project to see examples of how
possible interconnections between the abstract machine of hacktivism and estab-
lished fashion can bridge DIY delegations of skills with the glossy exclusivity of
high fashion. By discussing Pro-Am within amateur astronomy and various forms
of user-innovations we can see parallel practices establishing interfaces for creative
exchange between producers and users that might influence how fashion designers
can approach the same questions.