Choreography of Leftovers: A Rabbit Hole of Possibilities

"All that the city has rejected, all that it has lost, shunned, disdained, broken, this man catalogues and stores. He sifts through the archives of debauch, the junkyards of scrap. He creates order, makes an intelligent choice; like a miser hoarding treasure, he gathers the refuse that has been spit out by the god of Industry, to make objects of delight or utility" (Baudelaire 1851, p.7)

Human affect and interaction with design, historical practices of repurposing the materials of human and animal waste, material literacies, and the processes of creativity, can help us to understand the often-conflicting meanings in the contemporary moment. With the rise of fashion’s interest in regenerative agriculture and the material possibilities of using “the whole” animal, along with repurposing the detritus of lives lived, this chapter reflects on resourceful practices of the past that permeate sustainment in present and future fashion design thinking, and responsible, resilient practice.

Unearthing the “cultural scavengers” working across alternative methodologies that have informed and inform product innovation, this chapter will time travel across chronotopes of waste into the futurology of fashion discards and misfits, steered by the mysterious charisma of garbage and its creative possibilities.