The Widows from Waste: The Tale of The Widows

In the previous post the core reasons behind the collection were observed. This time, it’s time to dive into the story that grew to portrait the sadness of shortening lifespans of the clothes.

The clothes were used to be made to last for a long time and to be worn by their owners until they were broken beyond repair or their owners deceased. They were carefully maintained and had great value as commodities. Now many of the clothes are discarded while still in a good condition, beautiful and unbroken. If the clothes had a mind of their own, wouldn’t they believe and wish to be purchased for a lifetime of active and caring use? Who would expect a lonely, isolated life, long or short, at the backmost part of a dark, stuffed wardrobe! And then to be brought shortly to the daylight only to end up in a container full of other unfortunates with destination unknown. This would surely be a scary situation for anyone.

This is where these clothes wake up from their long slumber. Where are their owners? Their special humans? Their partners with whom they were going to share their days and nights until the death would do them apart? The decease of the human or the final breakage of the garment. All the abandoned are in the same bewildered state. The thought of being discarded as unwanted or as unneeded doesn’t even pass their minds. They were loved, precious and desirable, every and single one of them, surely. They were born through hard work, dedication and determination of many individuals. They would never be thrown away for plain vanity and indifference. There was only one plausible reason for waking up in these trash like heaps, a sorrowful reason that could mean but one thing. As they were still here, their loved ones were those who had deceased.

The clothes gather together for often the sadness is easier to carry when you are not alone. Sharing the pain gives solace in the hopelessness of the abyss. They pile up seeking consolation and comfort, higher and higher with every garment that adds its weight to the heartbreaking story. As the memories gather, the piles take on shapes so familiar and natural to the clothes. Each cloth in itself is made to follow the human form. In their gatherings the many clothes now as if following their intuition seek out those outlines they know by heart. On and on they intertwine and tangle up, sliding, climbing and attaching to one another. Until they form the haunted figures that so closely resemble the shape of their late loved ones. The first steps make them stagger, but with each new step they gain more confidence. As their forms straighten up, one by one each of the figures set out to the world outside, to mourn as widows for their loss.

The Widows of Waste are the stories of the five characters that emerged from the slumber of the discarded clothes and wandered back to the world of the humans.

The characters are portrayed through five clothing ensembles made by sewing new while sourcing materials from the secondhand clothes. Each character tells a different story of what the clothes found out when they came back to walk the active world, not as clothes to be used but as humanlike creatures themselves. Of the characters and their personal stories more details will be revealed as they materialize in the studio.

In the next post, I’ll be writing to you about the visual ideas leading the designing work. Meanwhile you can follow at TORN’s Instagram stories how the pattern making and sewing are starting up and find recommendations of interesting documents and books about the problems of the fashion industry and the shortening utilization times of the textiles.

Sincerely

Iina