Jenny Morisetti must be our closest-ever speaker! She runs Hawkers Farm ReCreatives in Stour Provost, which is dedicated to upcycling and re-using as much fashion as possible, replacing the F in fast fashion with an L to make it last longer.
On several levels, Jenny’s talk was eye-opening. She began by giving some worrying statistics about the amount of pollution caused by the fashion industry – both in manufacture and in waste – and showed some horrifying photos of the Aral Sea. This was once a thriving fishing area but is now desiccated due to the diversion of water to irrigate cotton fields; the boats are left literally high and dry.
Encouraged by and learning from her mother, Jenny has been a needlewoman all her life. She did various ‘proper’ courses but then became a Naval Officer. She made the most of overseas postings and visits to explore other techniques and source fabulous fabrics, some of which she brought to show us.
From her clothes stand in the corner, Jenny got us to guess the ages of five LBDs (quite difficult!) and showed us her favourite Biba dress. That got many members reminiscing.
The third strand to her talk included examples of how clothes can be mended, repurposed or even made from something entirely different. A blouse from a whitework embroidered tablecloth, anyone? Minimal sewing involved!
A really engaging and inspiring afternoon, and I think a number of members may now have De-Fashion Dorset in their diaries (May 30th at Hawkers Farm.