The Dying Days of DIY Fashion

I always gravitated towards skater fashion. Being 17 and growing up in a house that had a strict no hair-dye, no piercings and no makeup policy it was exactly what I needed. I could dip my toes into the waters of punk without getting scalded. Skinny black jeans, a pair of converse, a baseball cap and a plain white tee. Not quite Lonsdale and not quite Doc Martin. It was at this age I began to see that red and white Supreme logo and to be honest, I thought it was sick. The simplicity of the colour scheme while still making a statement. I didn’t realise it then but I was seeing the beginnings of street wear.

Where does this all tie into the objective of this article? Well it starts and ends with that white shirt. I wanted it. I was insecure and wanted something physical to make me stand out…. Then I saw the price tag.

Fifty dollars for a T-shirt, that's just some ignorant bitch (Shit) – Macklemore (2012)

My mam had home-made her wedding dress as well as my sister’s communion dress and a host of other things. However, it simply isn’t something I see today. It seems that everyone and anyone who makes anything doesn’t care for small scale items. The only thing people really care about making is anything that will either get them clout, money or ideally both. Are we losing a generation of people who see clothes for simply textiles and stitches?

I spoke to two people who managed to keep the craft alive in their own way to see what they thought.

“My name is Maria Patriarca and I basically just run my own small at home business. I currently just make scrunchies now and stock with hairdressers and I also do like customs for GAA clubs”

“Ok cool! So do you think the DIY mentality of fashion is something of days passed or is it still prevalent?” I asked.

“I definitely think there is some market for it but I also think it’s kind of becoming a trend lately. I think its popular now because young people like the idea of sustainability with it” Said Maria.

“And so what do you think of brands like Supreme ruling over the industry” I asked.

“Yeah well the thing with Supreme and Champion especially is that they really just get a Fruit of the Loom type shirt and slap their name on it which I really don’t agree with.” Replied Maria

“So does that make it easier or harder to make it in fashion now?” I continued.

“I definitely think its harder because everything has been done before and its almost impossible to make it your own, the likes of people just slapping a logo on a shirt do make it more difficult” Said Maria.

So a passing trend? Will the slight revival of DIY fashion simply be there to fill our Instagrams? From the work the likes of Maria is doing I hope not. Perhaps this will end up growing into something bigger in future however only time will tell.