BIG JOBS / little jobs = no jobs.

so many jobs to do to acheive goals of aweSUMO magnitude, scary jobs, starting your own business, top of the list - following your dreams tho.

studio move 4 months of no creativity, crazy. 2 weeks in I have gibed some walls, painted one coat of blackboard and started re:rearranging things to fit better. sewing machine tetrus!!!!! Big thanx to my Dad for helping me do stuff and lending me tools!!!! Choice one!!!!

but yet still the studio space feels strange as yet, haven't warmed it!!!! need's painting and bringing to life.

tidying, colour, shop fit out, forms = bleugh, but dollars = YAY, but can still sew, done some mending. made a sweatshirt!!!! is nice!!! and now a t-shirt too. is also ok. good for work and also all my t-shirts are getting holes wear them to much.

sewing is the next big job, got a long list to make!!!! and mend, create and blend.

Big jobs/little jobs = no jobs!!!! i can do it!!!!! 5 and a half weeks, go me!!!!!!

stay aweSUMO!!!!

fi

Human Friendly Fashion Bloggers

 Today marks a great day, today Senorita AweSUMO joins many others around the world to help fix the fashion system. As part of Blog Action Day I want you to take a moment to think about your clothing purchases over the next month, Do you really need that item? Why are you purchasing this item of clothing? are you building a sustainable wardrobe? are you swapping/sharing with others? Are you buying quality/workmanship/artisanal/local? 

Take a moment to think about it, before spending your hard earned $$$$ on something that will sit in the back of your wardrobe and never be worn, or only once and then passed on!!!!

Here's some thoughts from Esther Freeman from Ms Wanda's in the UK about being a human friendly shopper!!!!!!

 As part of Blog Action Day Fashion Mob founder, Esther Freeman, explains why it’s dangerous to point the finger of blame at consumers for human rights abuses by the fashion industry.

Since the collapse of the Rama Plaza building in Bangladesh, the media has been full of discussions and head scratching about fashion. One comment that keeps coming up is the responsibility of consumers around fast fashion.

Quite frankly this is nonsense. Furthermore it is dangerous to suggest so.

All too often high street chains whine about how hard it is for them to improve human rights, and how they’d change but consumers don’t want it. It’s become their get out clause. And by saying consumers have some kind of responsibility, we reinforce that myth.

It also overlooks that slavery, poverty and disaster happen at the higher end of the fashion too. There have been several campaigns against Adidas and their refusal to compensate workers and pay a living wage. And designer brands like Dolce & Gabbana have been in the firing line too.

In an interview for the film Apparel Truth, a trade union leader in Bangladesh is very clear where the responsibility lies. He said:

“The main profit from this business is going to the multi-national company…The multinational company is putting pressure on the local business to pay a living wage. But also the multinational company is putting pressure on the local business to reduce their price.”

So let’s point the finger where it should be pointed – at the global brands who create human rights abuses as fast as they create fashion.

That’s not to say consumers have no role to play in creating change.

People power is incredibly important. That’s why we launched The 1% Campaign. The campaign calls on the fashion industry to invest 1% of their profits in solving issues in their supply chain, especially around human rights. We need more time and investment in activities like better auditing, health and safety training and improved working with NGOs and trade unions at local level.

Consumers are in a powerful position to demand this. And if we all work together we can help bring about a solution.

>> Sign the 1% Campaign petition and demand that multinationals take responsibility for what happens in their name.

Senorita AweSUMO will be applying more pressure to New Zealand to make the right choices in consumption, and will be portraying this in textile sculpture 2014 in Dunedin. LOOK OUT FOR MORE INFO, anyone interested in being involved email me with 'LOVE FASHION HATE SWEATSHOPS' in the subject line. senorita.awesumo@gmail.com.

 peace

'What you have and are as a being should always be honest to self and earth alike!'

 

 

 

SWISH IN THE CITY 5TH OCT DUNEDIN

Senorita AweSUMO @ Swish in the City October 5^th Dunedin Railway Station

We can no longer sustain our current shopping and fashion system, we are producing much more than we will ever need.

Why not save yourself from the textile wasteland and come SWISH, a cheap sustainable way of getting new threads, a great way to start building your conscious wardrobe, by sharing your unused/unwanted garments with others, and why not do it in style at Dunedin's Iconic Railway Station this Saturday October 5^th.

Exchange your quality fashion items with other sustainable stylistas. bring your friends, fashion faux pas and sense of adventure for this entertaining, guilt free girls day out.

tickEts are $20 available at ticketdirect.co.nz * sevice fee applies,

visit www.swishinthecity.co.nz for more info

A HOW TO guide to swishing......

Sort your wardrobe and pick your swishest items to contribute.

Bring your items along and receive tokens in return.

Use your tokens to adopt new items, or bid for fantastic items and services.

Rave about what a great time you had and love your swished up style.

SenoritaAweSUMO will be there with my latest zero waste collection, 'Te Warewhare Whakapau' found in Dunedin, recently launched at NZ ECO Fashion Exposed Lower Hutt NZ, September 21^st.

'Te Warewhare Whakapau'           Senorita AweSUMO 2013   Model: Jasmin Katy MacKenzie

Te Warewhare Whakapau is a call for more transparency in the fashion industry. The New Zealand Fashion system can be more innovative to create jobs in New Zealand's manufacturing sector.

I believe that designers serve their community by providing solutions to problems the community faces. My designs aim to mitigate environmental harm from modern fashion production. Reducing waste without compromising style.

The garments I create are not only beautiful, but they up cycle fabric or clothing that would otherwise be landfill. The recurring heart symbol has been used on FOUND items and weaves the life blood of tradition and value back into a precious entity.

My garments aim to minimise the environmental impact from disposable consumer items. By collecting from recycle centres and commercial off cuts from local producers, previously discarded items become precious garments that live more than one lifetime.

By utilising Zero Waste principals, I hope to teach consumers to think of clothing as an asset. I have a vision of consumers wearing a sustainable wardrobe and events like this SWISH are all apart of that.

Global problem, Local solution.

I have 2 passes to give way to swish in the city, save yourself $20 and tell me a story about an item in your wardrobe, something that evokes memory for you, email your story to me at senorita.awesumo@gmail.com by thursday 2^nd october 5pm , if you have an image send that through to, NOTE: your story may be shared on my blog and facebook page as the winner, this may be edited by me. but your aweSUMO anyway so choice!!!

see you there................

Te Warewhare Whakapau 2013

Te Warewhare Whakapau is a call for more transparency in the fashion industry. The New Zealand Fashion system can be more innovative to create jobs in New Zealand's manufacturing sector.

Te - The

Warewhare - colloquialism for warehouse.

Whakapau -  consume, to use up.

We buy more than we need because we want to make ourselves feel good, because the media has made us feel as though this is the only way to achieve this. We buy mass produced, cheap, bad quality garments in bulk to get that 'oh yeah i'm amazing' feeling. Do you even know where that garment came from? where was it manufactured? was someone paid a fair wage to produce this garment? did anyone die in the process - Bangladesh and many others before it!!!!

These are questions I can answer when people purchase from me. Because I collect and produce locally, you know your money is being spent on a quality garment that has values and morals behind it. I am the one who sews that garment and if it isn't me, that person has been paid a fair wage or fair manufacturing process costs.

My garments aim to minimise the environmental impact from disposable consumer items. By collecting from recycle centres and commercial off cuts from local producers, previously discarded items become precious garments that live more than one lifetime.

The garments I create are not only beautiful, but they up cycle fabric or clothing that would otherwise be landfill. The recurring heart symbol has been used on FOUND items and weaves the life blood of tradition and value back into a precious entity.

By utilising Zero Waste principals, I hope to teach consumers to think of clothing as an asset. I have a vision of consumers wearing a sustainable wardrobe.

Global problem, Local solution.

Come and see me at NZ Eco Fashion Exposed this Saturday 21st Sept @ The Notre Dame des Missions Performing Arts Centre at  Sacred  Heart College, Laings  Rd,  Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand   

Ticketing information available on the website   NZ Eco Fashion Exposed 



Also NEXT week stay tuned for some information on SWISH IN THE CITY - DUNEDIN OCT 5th  a clothes swapping event, that can enhance your wardrobe on the cheap!!!!! 

I will be bringing Te Warewhare Whakapau for people to view and converse over!!!!

i may have 2 passes to give away so start thinking of your best garment in the closet story and why it's still there, you didn't throw it out because? give me a memory.............. please note the winners story may be shared on my blog/facebook page......

Stay AweSUMO.

Fi




 

2013 your getting full on!!!!!

It's been awhile, yeah!!! mostly because i have been working away in the background dealing with failure, quiting smoking and letting myself be me.  It's been 8 months since i smoked a ciggarette and i am fucking stoked about that, i never wanted to smoke and only ever did it to fit into a group of people i thought i was supposed to be friends with because that's all i knew, NOW i know better. They treated me like shit and i let it happen. This doesn't happen anymore I choose my friends based on how aweSUMO they are, and they choose me because of the same. BLEUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now good things are happening, you can VOTE for me in the AMP people's choice awards 

GO ON YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!!!!!!!!!  I am doing this to try and get $10'000 towards setting up a collective manufacturing space here in Dunedin to minimise our textile waste.


Also i am Launching my brand Senorita AweSUMO at Nz Eco Fashion Exposed at the Notre Dame des Missions Performing Arts Centre at  Sacred  Heart College, Laings  Rd,  Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand on the 21st September 2013.

Events being held on the day include

Saturday 21st September 2013

9am - 2pm Shwop & Style With Kila's Style - $10 @ The Dowse Art Museum, Laings Road, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand

10am - 2pm Eco Fashion Boutique Pop Up  FREE ENTRY @ The Dowse Art Museum, Laings Road, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand

6.30pm New Zealand Eco Fashion Exposed Eco Fashion Runway

Tickets At Event Finder

Clives Chemist Wainuiomata

 Valley Visitor Centre, Laings Rd, Lower Hutt

Tickets are selling fast and with only 18 days left you better be in quick.

 

SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

a few excerpts from the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002/2012

 Totally disapointing that this is what i find!! not even the global leaders can understand, now the people of this earth must stand up and say NO!! you cannot rape this earth any longer, it must sustain us and we shall live together not a part.



Not just a population but a people.

it is now ten years later 2012,


"With the world's most powerful governments fully behind the corporate globalisation agenda, it was agreed even before the Summit that there would be no new mandatory agreements. Rather the focus was to be on implementation of old agreements, mainly through partnerships with the private sector. In other words, those aspects of sustainability that are convenient for private sector would be implemented." Kenny Bruno, CorpWatch ++ [ The Earth Summit's Deathblow to Sustainable Development; CorpWatch article; September 4 ]
"Compared to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, this summer's World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg was bound to be somewhat disappointing. The negotiations leading up to Johannesburg had not provided any reason to expect dramatic break-throughs, and there were none. After the meeting, many non-governmental organizations denounced the WSSD as a failure. Even seasoned U.N. officials, while relieved that the Summit had not broken down completely, were rather muted in their responses." Hilary French, Worldwatch Institute ++ [ The From Rio to Johannesburg and Beyond: Assessing the Summit ]
"We invited the leaders of the world to come here and commit themselves to sustainable development, to protecting our planet, to maintaining the essential balance and to go back home and take action. It is on the ground that we will have to test how really successful we are. But we have started off well. Johannesburg is a beginning." Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General ++ [ The Johannesburg Summit Test: What Will Change? Feature Story United Nations; September 25 ]
"The Plan of Action is not much of a plan, and it contains almost no action. We've spent the last year and half doing damage control. We now have to move forward with a 'coalition of the willing,' those countries, communities, organisations, and people who want to deliver a sustainable energy future." Steve Sawyer, Greenpeace Climate Policy Director ++ [ Exxon buys summit, planet; Greenpeace press release; September 3 ]
"The Earth Summit should have been about protecting the environment and fighting poverty and social destruction. Instead it has been hijacked by free market ideology, by a backward-looking US administration and by global corporations that help keep reactionary politicians in business. This is the worst political sell-out in decades." Charles Secrett, Friends of the Earth US.
"Negotiators were frantically working nights to reach consensus. Activists were busy lobbying negotiators for changes. In this flurry to agree on the right language, no one seemed to notice that the draft itself was so watered down that even if all the brackets were removed, the result would amount to next to nothing. No wonder then that the final document consists only of repackaged soft targets — sometimes even more diluted than previous agreements." Sunita Narain, Down To Earth ++ [ The World After; Down To Earth; September issue ]

However, it could have been worse. At the very least, the summit did not reverse the commitments made in the Doha trade round and the Monterrey summit on finance for development; at best, it forged a greater sense of urgency to live up to commitments made at the Rio Earth Summit a decade ago. About two-thirds of the final Plan of Implementation consist of reiterations of earlier commitments. Friends of the Earth, for example, has analysed the final text and found precisely two new and specific targets in the whole Plan of Implementation: To halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation; and to eliminate destructive fishing practices by 2012. According to Friends of the Earth, in every other case "existing commitments are simply reaffirmed, watered down, or trashed altogether." ++ [ Earth Summit Betrayal; See You All in Mexico; Friends of the Earth press release; September 3 ]






 http://www.earthsummit2012.org/   


moving foward now i hope towards anything as its better than nothing right!! some movement?  

UN General Assembly passes resolution to hold a UN Conference on Sustainable Development at ‘the highest level possible’ in 2012

 

 

HOPE.....THE ONLY THING WE HAVE LEFT TO HOLD ONTO!!!!

 SAD!!

Chimerical Conundra - The Graduate Collection 2011

Chimerical Conundra means a wildly fanciful puzzle, the process of making has been like unravelling a knotted thread. This collection was made utilising the negative spaces created from commercial pattern cutting. Pieced by pieced together to create simple workable shapes. I designed this collection to challenge the current fashion system and to educate consumers and designers about the wastefulness of this system. The way forward is to consume less for longer, to buy quality clothes that become precious items and to transcend trends towards more sustainable wardrobe choices.

“ Creative pattern cutting is not all about mathematics and measurement... it is about space and body, balance and movement.” (Julian Roberts)

This collection was made under the umbrella of RISK design, It’s ultimate goal is to educate alongside a sharing and knowledgeable community of design practitioners this can create change. Sustainability and ethical choices are the basis for these products. It is integral to the environmental choices we make in all aspects of our lives. Designers leading the way by teaching consumers about ethical practice and the choices therein. A long term solution in revolutionising the fashion system.

Fabrics used in this collection are Silk, 100% Lycra, and Wool sourced from New Zealand and Australia. The fabric was sourced from two local businesses Adventure Outfitters and St Clair Designs, thus it has previously been through the commercial pattern cutting process. I utilised the offcuts by building larger geometric shapes, incorporating neck and armholes into seams and an integrated system for tying. Inspired to return to a more traditional way of dress. The outer garments are One Size Fits Most and are transformable to be made the wearers own.

Peace.

Knitted Dinosaur Hood - Full Colour

Knitted Dino Hood

Reversible Rectangle Top 100% Silk, Lycra Onesie

Starfish Garment 100% Silk, Lycra Bodysuit, Knitted Dino Hood.

100% silk top, Lycra Onesie

100% Silk Dress, Lycra Bodysuit.

100% Silk Top, Full Circle Skirt, Lycra Onesie, Knitted Dino Scarf

THANK YOU: Adventure Outfitters & St Clair Designs for their contribution of fabrics. Glenys Clements, Christine Hardisty & Colleen Kelly for their knitting skills.

 IMAGES: BODY: Georgie D - Ali McD Agency, FACE: Leila George, PIX: Teryn Harris.