A Study on the Correlation between Sustainable Slow Design and Contemporary Fashion

Abstract

This study examines the correlation between the characteristics of sustainable slow design, The outcome derived from the pro-environmental consciousness in fashion design, and the trends of modern fashion design. The conclusion of this study is as follows. First, slow design for sustainability shows an environmental consciousness and stresses the ethical aspects of fashion design that take into account the wellbeing and sustainable development of human society. It also focuses on the continuos present in which the consistent pace of life endures, rather than pursuing speedy changes of fashion by titillating desire. Second, the five characteristics of slow design have been extracted from the analysis of the examples of fashion industry and other fashion-related areas. They are sustainability, recyclibility, handicraft, naturalness, and simplicity. Third, these characteristics of slow design have much to do with modern fashion genres. For instance, classical style fashions such as Chanel suit and Burberry coat have the same qualities of sustainability, while at the same time the Vintage fashion, which reinterprets the fashions from bygone eras in modern style, has the tendency of recyclibility, and the Hippie style, a resurrection of hand-touch spirit that emerged as a secondhand style expressionism resisting uniform mass production, has not only the quality of handicraft but also recyclibility.