{ DESIGN POST }

Last month I started a three part series on my talented 13 year old niece Lola Houghton, and her inspirational hand made entries into the Schools Trash to Fashion Awards 2012, 2013, and 2014. 

Today's post is all about Lola's 2013 entry, for which she won first place for her category (for the second year running). Lola's ideas, her design sensibility and her calm and thoughtful onstage presence are, I believe, what makes her stand out so beautifully.

These are her own words about this stunning design, named 'Farthest Boreal':

"I wanted to make a garment about the melting of the polar ice caps and 

the impact that this has on the animals that live there. Polar bears and 

other creatures are dying because their habitat is being destroyed, and I 

wanted everyone in the audience to see and feel that when they look 

at my garment.

I had the idea of sewing McDonald's packaging inside the skirt to represent 

one of the main causes of global warming and the melting of the icebergs: the 

fast food industry. Lots of people don’t realise that the fast food industry is 

causing global warming. It’s hidden, just like the McDonald’s packaging on 

my dress. But when you look underneath, you realise what is really causing 

the problem.

I picked McDonald's to represent all the fast food chains because their 

packaging is red, which contrasts nicely with the vibrant white of my 

dress and also symbolises blood and death for animals. It’s like you are 

sticking a happy face on something that is partly responsible for 

global warming.

My final design depicts the spirit of the farthest, coldest regions of the earth. 

She has antlers, representing the deer that live in the tundra; a bodice 

representing the top of the iceberg; a wide shaped skirt to represent the lower 

part of the iceberg; and a net overskirt that is stained with her blood, to show 

that she is hurting.

I chose a name for my garment that is ‘Farthest Boreal’, which means ‘furthest 

frigid’. I like this, because I interpret it to mean that even in the most frigid, 

cold, parts of the earth, trash has done something that hurts it, and I wanted 

everyone in the audience to see what I mean. The global warming that we 

are causing is having an effect."

~ Amy