Love you or leave you

BACKGROUND This project falls into the broad field of sustainable fashion and textiles and the narrow field of textile design. Textiles are cheap and abundant; a commodity with built in trend obsolescence. Often discarded with little consequence or consideration. Fashion academic Kate Fletcher asks us to take note of what exists already - to concentrate on how people use and wear their clothes instead of what they are made from and by whom. Fletcher in her most recent book 'craft of use' provides a post-growth view fashion. CONTRIBUTION In 2013 a series of semi structured interviews were undertaken with Melbourne based textile designers and consumers of cloth and clothing to find out why some items of clothing resonate and maintain long and meaningful relationships and others engender feelings of regret, anger or indifference. These interviews were crafted into stories, accompanied by photographs and bound into two booklets. These personal stories encourage readers to consider their own consumption habits and relationship to textiles. SIGNIFICANCE The curator of the cultural program selected this project for the 2015 Melbourne Spring Fashion Festival. The work was available to view at Clever Polly's Natural Wine Bar in West Melbourne. The project forms part of my PhD (in progress) titled 'More than material makers, connecting through textile design'. The project contributes to the discipline of textile design.