PATCHWORK: VSB Climate Fashion Show - Students from 11 Vancouver High Schools Present Fashion That Is High On Style and Low On Environmental Harm | Clothes Line Finds - Vintage clothing, fashion events and reviews

Whenever I see the word Patchwork, I think of quilts! Quilts can be made individually or by a group. They can be a bed cover, a wall hanging, or can accessorize clothing. They provide warmth and comfort and inspiration, in terms of their stories, patterns, fabrics and the variety of techniques used to make them. Quilts were originally made as wedding gifts or for the hope chest of bedding made for the first home together. They could be made from the finest materials or from whatever was at hand, an early form of recycling,reducing waste and upcycling. I once attended a day of workshops at Quilt Canada, this time in Vancouver, and met so many makers of all kinds of quilts. Quilting is a way of meeting to share ideas, to create art, make memories and design something useful, long lasting, able too be upcycled, recycled and reused forever. Patches are pieced together for family and friends, for fundraising, and for powerful ways to make strong statements. In this case, PATCHWORK,a Climate Fashion Show, held Friday April 25, 2025 at Kitsilano Secondary, involved more than 160 volunteers, a community from 11 Vancouver Schools, who have spent many months learning together how to patch together all the pieces required to produce a show to teach about the detrimental effects of fast fashion on the environment and to show us more ways to dress with statement and style with what we already have, what we can make that is sustainable/eco friendly and long lasting, and how we can buy less and toss less into the landfill. Maeve Downing, Head Organizer got a great committee together, some from her school, Windermere and others from across the Vancouver School District. With extensive experience at Vancouver Fashion Week and Vancouver Kids Fashion Week, Maeve asked people from the Fashion Industry and Fashion Programs, to give training workshops and this list was posted at the event! WOW! Thanks! Brilliant to show the audience (Parents, Students, Teachers, Sponsors...everyone, that this production happened because of commitment to the cause, ongoing training and using every resource they knew, through their own active involvement in school and community. When I met this committee, late in the afternoon, after a long day of school and activities, I was impressed with their energy, enthusiasm and readiness to get going. We interviewed each other as a way of learning how to get started and as a way to think about content for writing. PATCHWORK is a major academic project for them and I know they will record this experience as a memory of their accomplishments and hopefully as a template, a blueprint for educating and gaining community support for vital causes.

The PATCHWORK Climate Fashion Show is a remarkable Student Led Achievement! First, there was a high level of Student participation from all areas of the city. Each Student brought skills and experience and a commitment to action. I look at them as the top of the quilt, individual pieces featuring the faces, the stories, the cultures, the fashion designs, the photographs, the music, and the invitation to become part of a wrap around for closer attention to and better care of the environment. The batting or filling for the quilt is the sustainably sourced fabric, the closets mined for upcycling and recycling outfits, the 'found' and thrifted materials, the equipment and spaces for the planning, practising and staging of the show, the favourite pairs of shoes and boots worn thin by the travel and running around, the vast amounts of food to sustain the high energy of these teens, and a lot of hopes, dreams and vision of the final performance! The backing and binding are the foundation of this PATCHWORK Quilt! The Families, Friends, Education, the Programs, the Clubs, the Vancouver School Board and its many Green and Sustainability Initiatives and support for projects like PATCHWORK, the Teachers, Administrators, Maintenance and Facilities Staff, VCCFASHION and many additional Mentors, Workshop Resources and quiet voices of encouragement, along the way, are all the enhancements, the quilting technique on the back of every quilt. As for the dedication, how many names do you think would be added? Embroidered, stencilled, appliquéd? And now that this PATCHWORK is completed, when will the next one be? Congratulations all, for an Inspiring and Impactful Slow Fashion Event!!!

Please go to Patchwork VSB and PATCHWORK:VSB Climate Fashion Show for the details of Committee Members, Designers, and the process of the whole project and the final fashion show. We have been watching Maeve Downing shine behind the scenes and on the stage at Vancouver Fashion Week and Vancouver Kids Fashion Week, for a long time. I have written about her here: https://www.clotheslinefinds.com/2024/04/maeve-downing-volunteering-learning-art.html. Marilyn Wilson, who writes extensively about Designers and their collections, locally and internationally, interviewed Maeve, here. Both Marilyn and I made reels about PATCHWORK here and here. We thank Maeve for the invitation and the whole cast for a wonderful show. Students are our future. We look forward thanks to them!