Over a dozen emerging textile artists are poised to showcase new designs as part of a youth-driven project that refutes mass-produced monotony. The Ripped Open anti-fashion cabaret on Sunday, May 4 — the result of three months of furious creativity in a storefront studio at Sunnycrest Mall — will feature as many as 30 models sporting garments tailored from recycled and repurposed fabrics.
The show’s theme may be “transition,” explained organizer Molly Riepe, but its inspiration stems from a theme not normally associated with runways in Paris or Milan: apocalypse.
“There’s a lot of discussion throughout the clothing about cycles of destruction and restoration,” said Riepe. “A lot of human thought right now is oriented toward ourselves, and we’re very self-centred even in our ecological understanding. But when we look at the actual scale of life, the extinction event has been going on for millennia. Life has seen harder times and we’ll see better times. It’s just a matter of whether we see it or not, as humans.”
Co-producer Willow Rody, who like Riepe is a recent high school graduate, has been onsite at the Sunnycrest studio nearly every day since it opened in February with support from the Gibsons-based organization Deer Crossing the Art Farm. “Transition is obviously our theme for the show,” Rody reflected, “but it also just feels like a relevant term for my life since this space came into being. It’s cool to see growth over time, being in the space, learning new things — and I’ve seen that with everybody who comes in here.”
On a typical weekday, more than a half-dozen sewing machines thrum in harmony. The floor is littered with colourful scraps, including a B.C. provincial flag about to start a new existence as heraldic livery. The evolving cabaret lineup — previewed during a sneak peak held at the mall on March 20 — is scrawled on a chalkboard.
The studio’s proximity to Elphinstone Secondary School has made it easy to attract new artists quick to seize the vision for slow, sustainable fashion — and a community-centric learning model.
“I’m kind of still just stepping into fashion,” said Hunter Lewis-Perau, a Grade 11 student at Elphinstone who learned from collaborators how to operate a sewing machine. (An earlier attempt at hand-sewing resulted in “the worst thing on the planet,” he recalled dolefully — despite his track record as a successful painter.) “I haven’t really been able to fully express myself yet, so I’m learning the basics and figuring it out.” Cooperation is critical, he stressed, as is sensitivity to storylines derived from local ecosystems.
Lewis-Perau’s involvement in a nascent habitat restoration project in Roberts Creek fuels his fish-influenced fashion — one of several species acknowledged by the designers. “Beavers are ecosystem engineers,” added Riepe. “They diversify and fit into new niches.”
The pace of innovation attracted adult contributors like professional art therapist Julia Booth, who became the studio’s production manager, and contract-writing powerhouse Lydia Bradley.
Another adult — Sandy Buck, co-founder of Deer Crossing the Art Farm — is thinking about how to make the youth-led studio model sustainable. “This is absolute creative chaos at its peak,” she observed, comparing it to the Art Farm’s Rainforest Circus productions that take three years to prepare. She acknowledged the support of Sunnycrest Mall; conversations are ongoing about how to keep the studio space alive after the May 4 anti-fashion show. “We’re hoping to spend the next three months slowing down a little bit and letting the artists create what is to come,” she said. “Ultimately we do need support from the community who value this. I believe it can be a model that goes out into the world, that every person who lives on the Coast can be incredibly proud of.”
The Ripped Open Anti-Fashion Cabaret will take place on Sunday at the C3 Gym in Gibsons. On Friday, the studio at Sunnycrest will undergo its own transition to become a boutique for the sale of original garments.
“This is not just a show,” said Buck. “It’s so much more than that.”
Tickets for the Ripped Open cabaret are available online at deercrossingtheartfarm.org/ripped-open-2.
