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Text: On Paper – or bodies / Fashion is not an island unto itself – I strongly believe that clothing, to be valid, must relate to the total act of living – in a total environment. Ideas, for me as a designer, are apt to come from probes quite beyond the accepted boundaries of the fashion industry – resulting perhaps in a never-used-before kind of apparel --- Exciting scientific and technialogical developments going on right now in laboratories of unrelated industries have the power to solve clothing concepts yet only in the prototype stage. The designer can be the catalyst – collaboration between technical minds and the artist mind can yield a very rich lode --- My own involvement with paper began by falling in love with a great invention – the paper bag. It was 1953 – experiments – prototypes – for all areas of clothing – what man puts on his back – and head – and what he carries and uses. Actually the paper probe progressed on two levels. (A) Clothing to solve the problem of freedom from a certain kind of slavery – washing-cleaning-care. Aim is low cost – design as functional as the paper bag – or Kleenex. Throw-away but no-nonsense chic! (b) Paper used as a medium in itself – livable [?] – not disposable – making its own fashion statement – let price fall where it may ---Aware that the body must accept the tactile qualities of paper – how it feels – how it moves – intrigues the eye – even how it smells – marketing the ideas has been a problem because of two not fully developed areas A – Better performance and appearance of base material – B – construction means other than the needle --- lamination – adhesion – die-molding etc. Until these hurdles are satisfactorily met I do not believe paper clothing can take its functional place to serve as more than gimmick – BUT – the potential is there – the power is there – Creative collaboration can make it happen! Bonnie Cashin Handwritten essay signed by Bonnie Cashin on the creative use of paper in fashion design and clothing construction. Cashin describes the uses of paper on two levels: disposable which relieves the drudgery of cleaning care; or as a durable medium making a fashion statement. See also boxes 168, 169 and 171. "No-nonsense chic!"
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