Fashion with a heart
Documentary follows threads of ethically crafted clothing collection
Laura Siegel attended the posh Parsons School of Design in New York City and Central Saint Martins in London. But it was in the rough-hewed landscape of Thailand the Toronto-born fashion designer’s craft was irrevocably shaped.
“I had scootered to visit this old temple or palace in the middle of nowhere, but it was closed,” she recalls. “That’s when I encountered a woman crocheting on the side of the road. She didn’t speak English, but somehow I asked if she’d be willing to teach me.”
Siegel spent the next few days in the woman’s home learning the centuries-old art.
“I was terrible,” she says. “I don’t think she was impressed with my skills, but I just thought it was so special that she was so good at what she did and she did it every day. I just felt the need to bring work to these people.”
That experience set Siegel on the road to developing ethically handcrafted collections in collaboration with artisans in Asia and Latin America.
Siegel is at the centre of the documentary Traceable, which follows her as she visits locations in India to develop her 2013 fall/ winter collection. It airs on MTV, Bravo, M3 and E! Friday, known in the industry as Fashion Revolution Day and the two-year anniversary of the Bangladesh clothing factory collapse.
Written, directed and produced by Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Sharpe, Traceable questions the disconnect between the origins of mass-produced garments and the people who create and buy them. For Siegel, it’s also a chance to spotlight the craftwork of different cultures.
“I realized that these people should be used in our industry, especially since in a lot of cases the crafts are on their way to becoming extinct. Just in general, things being made by hand are becoming extinct. I saw this as an opportunity to change the way things were done.”
True, it isn’t easy bucking a system that’s driven by secrecy, competition and profit.
But, she says, the challenges are worth it — especially as the 2013 Bangladesh factory collapse, which killed more than 1,000 workers, creeps further out of the news cycle.