Grown
For the past few years [Zena Holloway] has been creating sustainable sculpture, vessels and fashion from lacy, web-like fabric she literally grows herself, from seed. The result is extraordinarily beautiful, ethereal even: webs of coiled and interwoven roots that she manipulates to create the most intricate of patterns. - Gardens Illustrated Magazine
Grown from Root : Woven by Nature
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It feels like fine leather against the skin and can be stitched on a sewing machine to form tailored pieces with a comfortable fit.
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Rather like a straw hat the root can last for many years if kept out of the elements.
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It can be wiped with a damp cloth.
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Root absorbs natural dyes very easily.
Why grow clothes from root?
The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world just after the oil industry and the environmental damage is increasing as the industry grows. It produces up to 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, creates a huge amount of pollution and uses vast amounts of fresh water in the process of making textiles. By contrast, root textile is pollution-free, water-efficient and fully compostable.
Ultimately root couture is a medium to communicate real issues facing our planet and humanity.
Reasons to wear plant-based fibres.
Garments containing synthetic materials, like polyester or nylon, release microfibers into the water when they are washed. These plastic microfibres run through our rivers and out into the oceans. Scientists have discovered that small aquatic organisms ingest these microfibers, which are then eaten by fish, and later eaten by bigger fish, introducing plastic into the food chain.
Microfibers, as well as other plastic pollutants, never really break down, they just get smaller and smaller, and scientists are yet to discover what the true cost of the plastic crisis will be for the future.
BRIDES MAGAZINE
Designer Debuts a Biodegradable Wedding Dress at the Chelsea Flower Show
“While wedding dresses often make a big impression during a couple’s nuptials, brides usually wear the gown once and then let it take up space in their closet. In an attempt to solve this problem, Zena Holloway creates biodegradable wedding dresses, The Guardian reports. The ocean photographer and bio-designer debuted one of her gowns, a tea-length getup adorned with a substance that looks like coral, at the Chelsea Flower Show on May 22, 2023. “The concept for this dress is a sustainable wedding dress,” she notes. “If they got married by the ocean, for example, she could sustainably trash the dress and get in the water and all the fish would just eat it, and it would just become part of the ocean.”
Fashion & Sustainability
