Local fashion designer prioritizes sustainability (includes photo essay)

By
Michelle Gonzalez
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Siany Muse, a local fashion designer, takes us along the journey of shopping for sustainable fabrics. From buying thread to sewing the pieces together, we are taught of the multitude of benefits found in determining the growth and rapid spread of fast fashion. As society continues to consume ongoing trends that inundate the fashion industry, individuals like Siany craft their own clothing products.

The process is hard work. However, customizing and personalizing your own fashion closet limits the mass production of generic designs. In opting to purchase fabric and thread, designers are bypassing the harmful consequences associated with this industry. This includes the slave labor and dyes that are used in making clothes. When Siany, and other fashion designers shift towards a more sustainable future, they are contributing to the reduction of pollution and creating a more eco-friendly world to live in.

Conclusively, while not many may know how to sew, creating clothes from some fabric and thread is a step in the right direction. As we continue to educate others on the exploitative measures taken to produce the shirt you are wearing right now, we are making meaningful steps towards toward a more sustainable future.

Siany diligently explores textures and finds a suitable piece of fabric that matches the vision
she has in mind for a new piece she is working on. Fashion is responsible for 10% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of global wastewater, and uses more energy than the aviation and shipping sectors combined.

Siany continues to look for other fabric options. Cotton, a natural fiber, is organically grown
and organically processed. Cotton cuts down on landfill waste and reduces pollution.

Finding the fabric that suits her vision, Siany is focused and meticulously cuts through the
fabric that will soon become her masterpiece.

She delicately looks through the threads and finds one that matches the fabric she has
chosen. Her fingers trace along the spools as she searches for just the right shade to bring her creation to life.

With much precision, she lays the fabric on her sketches. She is marking the fabric and
drawing out the pattern that will soon come to life. At this moment, her sketches become more than just lines on paper, they become a blueprint for her creativity.

Over the head shot that showcases the chaos and mess of her workstation, however, the
center of the image shows control and order as she measures the fabric to the model drawn.

Medium angle of Siany coloring her sketch and bringing her vision to life from a blank canvas.

Here, she is cutting through the fabric, turning her sketch into reality one snip at a time.

Siany has placed the thread inside her sewing machine and is preparing to begin working on
her masterpiece.

In continuing the prepping notion, she has placed the fine thread through the needle.

She has begun working and is sewing the dress together yet the focus is on her face as we
see the passion she works with.

Medium angle of her sewing the dress together. An active step of her working towards a more
sustainable future.

A detailed shot of the intricacies she is adding to bring life into the dress.

With pride, Siany holds up her finished dress which describes her skill and creativity in
bringing her vision to life. Mending our own clothes prolongs their life, meaning we can buy less, reducing demand on manufacturing and limiting greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts.

Michelle Gonzalez is a senior digital and interactive media student at Florida International University. She is constantly working on perfecting her craft as an illustrator, videographer and photographer. Michelle looks forward to using her background in film and media to produce content for social media accounts.

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