Talk

One of the main issues stopping clothing from becoming “sustainable” is the rate of consumption. Consumption has overtaken population growth as the biggest threat to the planet; people are buying more and more, as new fashion products are aggressively marketed to people on and offline. In light of the climate crisis, is it time to ban fashion advertising? In this panel discussion, we will explore this question by looking at what a world without fashion advertising would look like. Could this wean people from fast fashion and the planned obsolescence so virile within the contemporary fashion landscape? What would happen to the skills people have in this space? What would the media landscape look like? How would people develop their style when given space away from relentless marketing? Presented by SVA Continuing Education.

Moderated by Shonagh Marshall, faculty member in SVA MPS Fashion Photography; Curator, writer and founder of Denier, a bi-monthly newsletter that explores fashion in the Anthropocene epoch.

Instagram: @shonaghmarshall

Panelists:

Aja Barber, activist, writer and Instagram influencer. Barber writes and talks about the issues at the root of fashion and sustainability, such as colonialism, oppression and planned obsolescence. She is an advocate for buying less and is a reformed fast-fashion shopper. She has written a book which is coming out in September called Consumed: On colonialism, climate change, consumerism & the need for collective change.

Instagram: @ajabarber

Willow Defebaugh, writer and co-founder of Atmos magazine. Atmos aims to tell stories about the climate crisis through the lens of art and culture. They aim to have a different approach to promoting fashion in the magazine space.

Instagram: @willowrites

Shazia Abji, experience designer and North American lead for Glimpse, a creative collective dedicated to social change. One Glimpse project removed all the adverts in a London subway station and replaced them with images of cats - because cats make us feel good and ads do not!

Instagram: @weglimpse

Charlie Engman, fashion photographer and designer. Engman has photographed campaigns for Nike, Adidas, Stella McCartney, Hermes, Pucci, Vivienne Westwood and for editorials for fashion magazines such as Vogue, T and AnOther. Alongside photography he has been co-designing the Collina Strada fashion collections, aiming to be as “sustainable” as possible. He has also traveled to Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, one of the largest second-hand markets selling the global North’s unwanted clothes. This research has resulted in existential thinking around how his images sell clothing we don’t need—when waste and consumption are central issues to the climate crisis.

Instagram: @charlieengman