Audacious

What do you think these totally cutetastic jackets are made of?
Any guesses? Australian wool? Egyptian cotton?
How about recycled umbrellas recovered from New York’s trash bins.

Melanie McClintock is an independent fashion designer based in New York. Her shop, Ai Ai Gasa, is completely eco-friendly. They make all of their items from umbrellas thrown out after a heavy storm. McClintock tries to communicate the urgency of global warming and keeping the earth clean through alternative routes, such as fashion. Her store went on the road last summer with a mobile pop-up shop. Ai Ai Gasa bought a bus to use as an on-the-road boutique, get this, run entirely on recycled food oil from fast food restaurants. Talk about environmentally conscious!

She is definitely a wonderful, kind-hearted person. You would wonder why I would say such a thing right? Well that’s because I’ve met her. Okay not personally but during a pre-fitting for the VCUQ fashion show, she shared dounuts with me. I know right! McClintock was admitted as a teaching assistant at the design school. At the moment, I had no clue that she was a real fashion designer from New York, and now I wish I’d talked to her more.

You are probably asking yourself “How the heck do you make clothes out of umbrellas!?!?” Well let’s go back to square one. During rainstorms in New York, street vendors sell these cheapo five dollar umbrellas to naive tourists. After about fifteen minutes, the wind has torn the poor things apart, forcing the buying to chuck that umbrella and purchase a new one. Completely wasteful, I am horrified. After the storm has deceased, Melanie goes umbrella scouting in the glorious trash cans of New York. There she finds all sorts of trendy umbrella designs. Hauling her possessions back to her apartment, she dismantles, cleans, and presses the umbrellas until they are suitable for clothes-making. After taking them apart, the umbrellas are used just as ordinary fabric to sew and shape as she pleases. Her signature design is the basic bomber jacket, but she also makes handbags, skirts, and even dresses. The leftover bits of the umbrellas are then used to make characterizing jewelry. The best part is, her clothes aren’t outrageously pricey! The next time I am strolling down 5th Avenue on Park Slope, Brooklyn, I’ll be sure to stop by. Hint: You should too.



Information compiled from:

http://www.aiaigasa.com/ <- Ai Ai Gasa Online Store
http://www.handdrawnheart.blogspot.com/ <- McClintock's Personal Blog
http://styledefined.blogspot.com/2008/12/melanie-mcclintock-from-style-defined.html
http://vimeo.com/2528859?pg=embed&sec=
http://www.qatar.vcu.edu/output/page478.asp
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/fashion-beauty/fashion-foraging-umbrella-apparel.html
http://www.fashion-overload.com/my_weblog/2008/08/bomber-for-a-ra.html
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=local_news&subsection=Qatar+News&month=April2009&file=Local_News2009042965849.xml http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/instInfo/inst/14562/contentType/news/nID/4818/lang/1