MIA- 'Reclaim To Wear' Collection by Mia Nisbet
Transforming reclaimed masculine garments into chic funky fashion with a feminine twist.
'MIA' is a stylish womenswear collection for todays 'urban pixies'.
The core inspiration for my collection is recycling. I take old clothing be it a suit, old army surplus or vest tops and remake and create to give it a new lease of life.
The fashion Market is hugely saturated with designers creating and producing new collections. The demand for fast through away fashion is so immense that we need to take stock of the negative effects this is having on our environment.
Through my collection I want to raise awareness and also educate people of the bad effects all this waste clothing has. I want to show the potential in reusing what is already out there and saving the waste being sent to landfill.
Mia has recently won a major fashion competition called 'Make Your Mark In Fashion' run by the ethical Fashion Forum. Thus the label 'MIAWI' is born and will show case at London Fashion Week in sept.
Inspiration for this collection came from my time spent in Malawi. In the street markets there are locals selling copious amounts of second-hand clothing, which are donated and imported from the western world. The sheer volume of clothes was astounding. It became apparent these clothes markets would be a great place to source clothes for recycling. I propose that by creating the collection in Malawi we could fuse pieces of clothing selected from the markets with traditional Malawian clothes. Inpiration came from observing how Malawi citizens mixed these pieces of clothing with their traditional costumes, their prints and their fabrics making a strange fusion between tradition and modernity, between the North and the South; a combination of different cultures.
I will be utilising all the resources found in Malawi which will in turn strenthen their economy. The aim of the collection is not only to report waste, to promote recycling or to create awareness on the environment and ethical behaviours; but also to denounce the saturation of the fashion market that launches new collections every few months.