Melanie Child to debut at NZ Eco Fashion Week

Dunedin designer Melanie Child to debut at NZ Eco Fashion Week 2014

Dunedin designer Melanie Child is about to attend New Zealand Eco Fashion Exposed in Lower Hutt, Wellington in July as a new designer with her eponymous upcycled clothing label. Her simultaneous aversion and fascination to mass production and its by products, as well as the shapes and textures within the existing garments form the base inspiration for the label. The term upcycling refers to the reuse of an object or materials to create a product of higher value or quality than the original.

After graduating from the Otago Polytechnic’s School of Fashion in 2009, Melanie was a finalist in 2010 at the iD International Emerging Designer Awards, and recently won the Overall Award of Excellence at the Oversew Fashion Awards in Carterton, Wairarapa with a design made from men’s business shirts and trousers. Melanie predominantly uses secondhand and discarded clothing to create thought provoking and sculptural garments with a sharp edge. The label’s aesthetic was recently described as “21st century grunge meets high end streetwear.” Although some styles are reproduced each garment retains a sense of individuality because of the subtle differences in the raw materials used to create each piece. The designs are striking contemporary pieces designed to be a part of the wearers wardrobe for years.

The designer poses the question, “We live in a world saturated by mass production and consumption, why add to it?” Melanie’s collection for the 2014 Eco Fashion Event which has been set up for likeminded designers, will consist of a ten piece collection entitled ‘Inertia’, a mixture of streetwear and couture constructed using denim, mens shirts, tshirts and other preloved garments. New Zealand Eco Fashion Exposed will run from 23rd – 27th July. To find out more about Melanie and NZ Eco Fashion Exposed visit: www.melaniechild.co.nz or

www.nzecofashionexposed.co.nz

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