Circularity – a practice that has become key to conscious fashion. On Tuesday, it was at the core of a luncheon at the Polo Bar co-hosted by Indré Rockefeller, the CFDA and Ralph Lauren.
It served as the launch of the Circularity Project, a new organization founded by Rockefeller that looks to empower fashion designers to harness their creativity for a greater good. The luncheon provided designers and fashion executives with the opportunity to connect around circularity in fashion. It felt like a real American fashion reunion – with a purpose.
“From the outset, the vision for the Circularity Project centered around the voices of designers who are taking creative risks to incorporate circular design into their process,” Rockefeller noted in her introductory remarks to guests which included Lauren Bush Lauren, Batsheva Hay, Adam Lippes, Jonathan Cohen, Melissa Joy Manning, Wing Yau, Catherine Holstein, Wes Gordon, Maria Cornejo, Gigi Burris O’Hara, Marcia Patmos, Brett Heyman, Yeohlee Teng, Charles Harbison, Alan Mak, Linda Fargo, Roopal Patel, Lauren Levison, Beth Buccini, Alina Cho, Julie Gilhart, Rachelle Hruska Macpherson and Kate Young.
“What is circularity?” Rockefeller added. “Clearly, it’s something to do with a circle. But we’re actually here because of a line, which is the way the industry works now. It’s a straight line through take, make, and waste.
We’re here to talk about how fashion and designers specifically have the opportunity to change that. You are a critical link in starting to bend that line into a circle.”
Coach’s Stuart Vevers, anOnlyChild’s Maxwell Osborne, Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour and Bode’s Emily Adams Bode Aujla are among the pioneers and during the luncheon, they each spoke to the ways they incorporate a conscious approach that speaks to circularity in their work.
As Rockefeller put it, “A lot of small design decisions can turn a garment from a resource intensive product with a limited shelf-life on this planet into an item that can be regenerative, so we’re using less and polluting less.
“I hope the message you take away from today is, start where you are with what you have, use your creativity to reimagine what’s possible, and stay in touch,” she added. “We’re facing a collective challenge that is going to require creativity — and that’s something this room has no shortage of. Together we’re going to get this right because we have to get this right.”
