reTHINK! template shirt

For this 2009 collection I took ten Marks and Spencer’s shirts that I wanted to ‘upcycle’. I always find hundreds of these M&S shirts when I go second-hand shopping. The key technical approach to this collection is concerned with ‘multiple print lives’, or ‘lifecycle print layers’ (LPL’s). I experimented with designing over-prints that could be added to in time with another layer of decoration.
I also worked with a pattern cutter to radically restyle them. We worked on a concept of ‘reproducible upcycling alterations’. The stage 1 print uses the finger ‘dye painting paper’. After being used for the shirt, the paper is then used to create a capsule range of scarves to accompany the collection. The paper is used until exhaustion occurs. The paper will then be used to create a one-off framed paper print. The stage 2 print uses another ‘dye painting’ to give the shirt another decorative layer, and potentially another life. I worked through the collection of re-styled shirts responding to the new silhouette shape with a ‘dye painting’ on paper.

The resulting shirts were exhibited in Tilberg in 2010.