A Most Fabulous Fashion Faux Pas

(I'm posting this again, to make it easier to find. This is my second long essay)

As I was frantically pacing the dorm corridors, racking my uncooperative brain for anything I could use on the latest assignment in Materialism and Idealism, I was given a very odd look by a chic, fashionable, passer-by. Yet it was only when this wary diva clutched her bag close to her body and quickened her pace (no doubt to escape the clutches of the obviously disgruntled soul before her ) that I noticed “it”. That this girl who was all but running away from me had a “wicked –awesome” purse! Mind you, this purse wasn’t your cookie-cutter clothe-bag, nor was it your standard mass-produced multi-colored baby-snatcher bag. To be completely honest, her purse, looked suspiciously like trash.

In actuality, it was those unique “kool-aid bags” you sometimes see around---the types that you can make yourself (if you are skilled enough) or purchase from a store. However, as a person who obsessively drinks kool-aid, all I saw were my useless discarded kool-aid packages transformed into a cute, affordable, unique, and not-so-useless fashion accessory.

So let’s take it a step further. In poverty stricken cities in Indonesia, trash literally overflows in the streets and canals. Four-hundred thousand to Five-hundred thousand of the most poverty stricken inhabitants of these cities are employed to pick up this pollution for meager pay. However, one innovative artist has developed something called the “XS” plan, which takes these individuals, hires them for more, and uses the trash collected to create- you guessed it- art! Not only does one have the ability to buy back their trash and gain awareness, but anyone that can sow can make this art and potentially create a self-sustaining business. Not to mention the obvious benefits to the poor who are receiving a higher salary while helping to clean and maintain their domain.

This and more I discovered as I researched the idea of using accessories as a means of combating the ever growing dump heaps of our society. True, such implementation would not annihilate waste all together, but just imagine what would happen if the fashion institutions, small and big, local and corporate, starting shifting through trash to find the next newest trend? What would happen if the freshest look off the runway consisted of an artistically constructed “pringles can necklace”? (Let’s face it, some of these models look like they are wearing a garbage bag anyway, so why not REALLY wear it and promote a more environmentally friendly future?) In the very least, why not make individuals think twice about the trash they are throwing away?

I think this is a really interesting idea but do I ever expect Paris Hilton to go waltzing across my television screen accessorizing via my disposed Doritos bag? The answer is I don’t know. The incredible thing about fashion is that it is always changing, always morphing and evolving to fit society’s state of mind. So let’s not rule out the apparent fashion faux pas of a “trashy” look. After all, in this day and age, saving our environment should never be out of style.