In an attention economy, fashion degrowth will require a radical reclamation of our time.
Dresses made from post-it notes, topless looks, sharpie slogans and mascara tears; are staples of the SS24 AVAVAV collection which just debuted at Milan Fashion Week. Every season, Stockholm-born designer Beate Karlsson produces a viral and attention-grabbing runway show for the brand - the FW23 collection fell apart and exploded off the models as they sauntered down the runway.
The latest display was a deliberately half-baked affair which saw stress-induced models rushing down the catwalk while putting finishing touches on their outfits. Staff pasted crudely scribbled AVAVAV post-it notes onto the wall to signal the show starting before a model was pushed onto the runway before taking approximately two steps before rushing backstage in a fluster. Key pieces included “NO TIME TO DESIGN” emblazoned hoodies and commotion also included a graphic T-shirt, pinned at its sleeves with the words “ADD BACK?!” scrawled across it; a reference to the absurd turnaround times associated with putting on a showcase.
All in all, the collection was a nod to the one thing we don’t have enough of - time. Which begs the question, why?
There aren’t enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks that make us maximally ‘efficient’ citizens under the guise of late-stage capitalism. This only becomes harder as our attention spans, (currently at 8.25 seconds – that's less than a goldfish), dwindle. In an era defined by attention, our most precious commodity, immediate brand recognition and virality normally take precedence over the quality of a garment. It’s easy to dismiss the work of a creative who values the depth and integrity of a piece of clothing more than its ability to pop off on TikTok. It’s even easier to spend no time thinking about our clothes at all.
Fads are dynamic and changeable, meaning fashion actors are constantly involved in a struggle to build stable geographies of attention. The reliance on viral marketing and the sheer scale of fashion products available makes attracting attention crucial for the fashion business. Time is a limited resource, and this scarcity means that attracting, creating, and retaining attention isn't just a marketing process; it’s fundamental to the cultural economy we live in. But, to fix the deep ills of the fashion industry, this can’t continue. Not only on a business scale but on a psychological one too.
Fashion and design at large have evolved tremendously over the last century from highly localized and craft-based to the industrialised and over-producing machine we know today. With so much ‘fashion’ at our disposal, and so little time to produce, (why would we, when SHEIN is releasing approximately 2,000 new garments per day?) it’s no wonder we’ve entered a phase of consumption on steroids. Buying at a relentless pace is the ‘fresh’ and socially acceptable byproduct of time-starvation. Challenging this unsustainable industry is often boiled down to a change in habits; buying fewer things, shopping second-hand, and only washing your clothes when necessary. But what is required is a far more ideological shift - complete Fashion Degrowth; a prolonged collective and democratic decision, in the hope of getting us closer to ecological sustainability and socioeconomic justice on a global scale.
Degrowth is a movement that calls for more economically developed countries to stop focusing on GDP (gross domestic product) growth as a primary objective and instead organise their economies around advancing well-being and reducing inequality. Consumption is a requirement for continuous GDP growth, but recent research has shown that once a certain GDP threshold or level of well-being is met, we gain little from consuming more ‘stuff’.
We need to make the time to design, and we must demand it from the systems that govern us. Fashion Degrowth, while challenging, is not impossible. But, to achieve it, we’ll have to get our time to design back, and we’ll have to demand it from the systems that govern us. It won’t be enough to be ‘a bit more sustainable’, or ‘a bit more circular’. These processes will require a new social order in which we slow down and radically reclaim our attention. We’ll have to interrogate the importance of ‘efficiency’, and how the systems that speed our lives up can be harmful to the planet and its inhabitants. We’ll need more time at home, and less dedicated to normative 9-5 working structures so that we can share skills and knowledge in our communities. Re-embracing slower, localised production, also means we’ll have to think critically about who bears the burden of ‘domestic’ work and re-delegate these responsibilities along non-gendered lines.
Big brands could be mandated to slow down their production and spread their profits throughout the entire supply chain, supporting clean energy, pollution reduction and fair wages. By taking more time to produce new clothing, a balanced degrowth strategy could even allow garment workers to make less but earn more, freeing up time to fulfil other aspects of their lives. Designers could pave the way for this new industry by producing smaller collections of seasonless garments that have been designed for longevity. Repair services and responsible take-back schemes which increase the lifespan of our clothes could be infinitely successful if we commit to designating our time and attention to learning how to make our clothes.
It will require time, care, and a lot of attention, but who knows what could emerge (post-it note dresses and exploding garments notwithstanding) when we accept that we’ll have to go with less and wait longer. At least longer than 8.25 seconds.
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