Squiggly line

Life follows a squiggly line... eight years ago, I was studying holistic Health Promotion. I learnt about how "the concept of health includes interrelated dimensions of spiritual, mental, social and physical health and wellbeing".

This was the foundation to wanting to find out more about stuff. Stuff like: where our food comes from, where our clothes come from, how does what country you're born in affect what your life will be like?

For years prior I had been buying my clothes from op shops in an effort to create a look that was not straight from the pages of a fashion mag telling me how I "should" look. Once I started to find out more about who was making these clothes on a mass scale, and how these people and the environment were being mistreated I actually found myself feeling ill about having ever purchased something that was made this way. My eyes had been opened and I could never close them again, even if I had wanted to.

I made a promise to myself that I would never stop asking questions.

In the background of all of this going on I have always loved to make. I found myself making more and also consciously using 2nd hand materials that I had uncovered on my op shopping adventures. I felt like if if I could use resources that already existed, I would be spending my money in a more responsible way. I didn't have the funds to support the eco textile industry so I felt like this was the next best thing as the money was going to charity, not unethical retailers.

This squiggly line has led to me studying a Diploma of Fashion Design and Technology. I'm loving this new direction, especially embracing the interconnectedness between my previous studies and my goal of establishing an ethical and sustainable clothing and accessories label. I'm hoping to not only provide another choice to the mass produced, trend based, cradle to grave, fast fashion that has defined the past decade or so but I also hope to encourage you to ask questions... about everything.

♥ Yasmin

P.S. I've included a link to the paper that my Health Promotion studies were based on, if you'd like to read more on the subject...

http://www.academia.edu/216840/The_Red_Lotus_Health_Promotion_Model_a_new_model_for_holistic_ecological_salutogenic_health_promotion_practice