Hacktivism strikes me as a great term to describe the art of hacking into reject and cast-off clothing that is no longer loved, at the same time as making a statement about waste and exploitation that arises from contemporary fashion consumption habits. (That was until I googled it and found it’s more readily aligned with computer hacking.)

Anyway, this method of upcycling reflects the #scavengerstyle fashion political statement made by upcycler Karen Ellis whose 24/7 practice is wearing garments salvaged from the point of landfill in Victoria, Australia for the past five years.

Karen brought my attention to Otto von Busch and his >self_passage< research project that ‘explores how fashion can be used for empowerment, self-development and personal growth instead of being a phenomenon of top-down decrees and collective anxiety’.  Continue reading →