Eco Disaster Fashion Show

While you’ve been sitting at home pining over the future of polar bears and ice caps, participants in the Eco-Disaster Fashion show, hosted by Warm Cookies of the Revolution and Fashion Denver have moved on to the practical concerns of climate change – what will we wear? Inspired by the already pressing issues facing the world as a result of changing weather patterns, ecological destruction and declining air quality, the event was part fashion show, part thought experiment, allowing participants to start pondering the realities of the world we may soon be inhabiting without access to designer wares and cheap labor.

A native of Japan, designer Kotomi Yoshida designed outfits for herself, her husband and her two young daughters. She drew inspiration from her home country and the issues plaguing Japan as a result of climate change – the island nation is actually sinking into the Pacific ocean. Her main concern is preserving history in face of ecological destruction and her fashions were inspired by traditional Japanese clothing. Modern and futuristic considerations also made their way into her designs, one outfit was topped off with a pill case the wearer puts on top of their head so they don’t loose track of important medicines.  

Twelve year old Simone Ruckman was inspired by the million pound land fill that sits in the middle of the Pacific ocean, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.   With her plastic bag inspired frock, Ruckman mused people of the future will recycle old plastic bottles to create avant-guard fashions. A native of Uganda, Edith Muyinda used bark cloth to create a couture gown for the evening that doubled as a cocktail dress.

Warm Cookies of the Revolution has been holding ad-hoc events at the McNichols building for the last several years. The vision behind the gatherings has been to promote “civic health” and they tout themselves as the world’s first civic health club, engaging participants of the community through positive and inclusive conversations about the issues facing our society. Tired of the antagonistic and heated rhetoric of politics, Evan Weissman, a founder of the Buntport theatre company, founded the group several years ago. “Think of it as an on ramp for community engagement. We may not be bringing about change by protesting at the capitol, but we are trying to bring people into the fray by making discussions about community accessible.” 

Using creativity and fun to attract participants, events feature dancing, discussions, even building cities out of legos. And the organizers want people leaving realizing that they have the capacity take part in the decisions that affect our lives. Almost like a collective brainstorming session, the seven designers from the Denver area presented their fashions to an audience of about 45 people, one of many events held this winter at the McNichols building.

The event was emceed by Brandi Shigley of Fashion Denver and music was provided by DJ Diggs. Check out warmcookiesoftherevolution.org for more upcoming events.

You can find more pictures from the event on our Facebook page.