KEHS alters attitudes to retail therapy
If you’re familiar with current fashion you’ll already know that ‘up-cycling’, the process of altering existing items of clothing to transform them into something that’s desirable again, is bang on trend.
We all know that the credit crunch has forced the British public to economise. Add this to the current climate of social responsibility and anti-consumerism and you have the perfect reason to get out your sewing machine. Even the British fashion institution that is Dame Vivienne Westwood, was recently quoted urging people to ‘stop buying clothes’.
KEHS girls have been participating in a whole-school initiative to cut-back on brand new clothing purchases themselves and a forthcoming lesson in ‘up-cycling’ is set to get everyone talking.
The Re-dress project began last term when pupils and staff were invited to bring any unwanted items of clothing into school to be sold in aid of charity. Each item was sold for 50p and the girls made a whopping £500.00 for the Latin American Foundation for the Future (LAFF) Charity which helps young and vulnerable people across Latin America.
Creative Living teacher, Hannah Proops, decided that rather than getting rid of the items which were left over from last term’s sale, a simple lesson in ‘up-cycling’ could be just what the whole school needs to inspire them to get creative with their own wardrobes.
When she’s not teaching, Hannah keeps busy running her own business ‘Jukes and Proops’, recycling everything from knitwear and leather jackets to curtains, old broaches and broken jewellery and stocks a number of boutiques nationwide.
Hannah already has two short videos on YouTube demonstrating ‘up-cycling’ in action and she intends to introduce the girls to this concept by presenting the existing films at a series of year group assemblies.
Hannah comments, ‘As part of the KEHS Creative Living course, lower fourth girls take part in 4 weeks of fashion design entitled Remake, Remodel. This enables them to apply their creativity to a project which is personal to them, but also teaches them practical techniques in how to re-use and recycle in an effort to curb consumerism. The girls all love this area of the course so we thought why not make the initiative wider and encourage all pupils to think about their buying habits - and it’s great fun of course’.
KEHS Principal, Miss Sarah Evans, adds, ‘Like women the world over, our girls have a passion for fashion which is never-ending. By teaching them some basic skills, not only will they benefit from the satisfaction of knowing they’ve created something wearable from items previously destined for the charity shop, but they’re also doing their bit for the environment which can only be a good thing.’
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