Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Search
84.4 F
Salt Lake City
Sunday, June 15, 2025
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contests
  • About The Globe
    • Staff
    • Jobs
    • Issue PDFs
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
The Globe The Globe
The Globe The Globe
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Home Arts and Entertainment Exhibit explores fashion’s impact on nature
  • Arts and Entertainment
  • News
  • Campus
  • Don't Miss
  • Fashion

Exhibit explores fashion’s impact on nature

By
Austin Brewer
-
January 29, 2019
0
Fashion exhibit at SLCC Taylorsville Campus
Ten mannequins wear designs from the “Fashioning Our Environment” exhibit at the Markosian Library. The designs were crafted by students in the SLCC Fashion Institute. (Austin Brewer)

There is an unusual exhibit currently on display inside the Markosian Library at Taylorsville Redwood Campus.

Entering the library means being greeted by ten mannequins, clad in garments woven, sewn and stitched together from upcycled materials. The Salt Lake Community College Fashion Institute is making a statement, and they are going to be heard.

With materials ranging from garbage bags to old banners from the Salt Palace Convention Center, SLCC fashion students and faculty are using their “Fashioning Our Environment” exhibit to remind everyone about the cost of their clothing.

Melissa Caldwell, an adjunct professor for the institute, explains, “The whole life cycle of fashion has an effect on the environment. The creation of fibers, then into fabrics. It all has an effect.”

Caldwell assigned her students a broad category — “how fashion affects the environment” — and they ultimately created garments covered in plastic bags, upcycled leather, denim and even lace curtains.

“I think it’s timely, in all honesty,” Caldwell says. “There is a lot of disregard for the environment.”

This isn’t Caldwell’s first show. Last year, she organized the Fashion Institute’s first successful exhibit. “Dressed to Protest” spurred this year’s theme.

“We had some projects last year that focused on the environment,“ Caldwell says. “My students definitely wanted to continue with that theme and they drove it forward.”

"Hues of the Rivers" design
“Hues of the Rivers” was inspired by a saying about industrial runoff. In certain countries, it is said that you know the fashionable colors for the next year by the colors of the rivers. The design is part of the “Fashioning Our Environment” exhibit, on display at the Markosian Library through Feb. 8. (Austin Brewer)

Mojdeh Sakaki, the institute’s program director, is proud of the initiative shown by her students.

“I’m very excited,” she says. “I’m excited that students get to use the platform to bring awareness to this issue.”

Caldwell emphasized that the exhibits were heavily direct and created by students. Each garment is unique and focuses in on one issue that fashion creates for the environment.

“They chose their own inspiration,” she says. “I just gave them the theme, and they ran with it.”

One gown, for example, illustrates how the fashion industry can cause pollution.

“Hues of the Rivers” shows the effects of dyes on water supplies. The garment is crafted to reflect a saying about industrial runoff, according to its description: “In certain countries, it is said that you know the fashionable colors for the next year by the colors of the rivers.”

According to the World Resource Institute, 1.3 trillion gallons of water per year are used globally for the dyeing of clothing. In addition, the textile industry is responsible for 20 percent of global water pollution.

The Fashion Institute’s exhibits have both shown to be tied to politically charged statements, which most wouldn’t immediately associate with fashion.

“People only think of fashion on the runways of Paris, they don’t realize the platform it has,” Sakaki says.

“Fashioning Our Environment” will be on display in the Markosian Library through Feb. 8. Visit the SLCC Fashion Institute to learn more about this and other projects.

Melissa Caldwell
SLCC Fashion Institute instructor Melissa Caldwell stands proudly with her student’s creations in the Markosian Library. The designs are part of the “Designing Our Environment” exhibit, now on display through Feb. 8. (Austin Brewer)
  • TAGS
  • Fashion Institute
  • Fashioning Our Environment
  • Markosian Library
  • Melissa Caldwell
  • Mojdeh Sakaki
  • Salt Lake Community College
  • Taylorsville Redwood Campus
Austin Brewer

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Model walking the catwalk while wearing a student's design

SLCC Fashion Club seeks models for Senior Fashion Show

Fashion models walking through the hallway in front of an audience

Designing fashion for the future at Salt Lake Community College

Artwork displayed on SLCC Creatives posterboard

Redwood Markosian Library branches out to display SLCC community’s artistic talent

Model walking the catwalk while wearing a student's design

Fashion Institute holds year-end fashion show, announces transfer path with USU

Mojdeh and Matt speaking to high school students

High schoolers visit SLCC Fashion Institute to explore paths in the industry

The Globe
ABOUT US
About The Globe
Staff
Jobs
Issue PDFs
FOLLOW US
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
  • About The Globe
  • Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2025 The Globe