Discarded is an exploration of the short and uneventful lives led by fast fashion garments from brands with headquarters in the UK, focussing on brands with their headquarters in Manchester. From garments in charity shops that have never been worn, to garments thrown out with household rubbish, this project seeks to highlight the waste of resources, the exploitation of workers and the pollution problems that the overproduction of fast fashion causes, and to create new and exciting realities for these unwanted garments. A mixture of textile art and photography, Discarded will be on display at Kiosk, Quayside Shopping Centre, Salford Quays, from 26th April to 21st May. The opening week coincides with Fashion Revolution Week in 2023, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed 1134 garment workers who were making clothes for international fashion brands.
Artists Elly Platt and CL Gamble use unwanted clothing to create a series of varied works, from playful polaroids of a capsule wardrobe of street finds, through upcycled and refashioned clothing carrying messages about our current fast fashion industry, to works of wearable art conveying messages about our relationships with our clothes, from the personal and private to the public and global.
