Trashion- the Fraternal Twin

Trashion- the Fraternal Twin

Fashion Changes

Trashion- the Fraternal Twin. Fashion changes. As a term, it stays but all inside it changes. So what the fashion with our clothes, make-up and almost all connected to our bearing was yesterday is not the same today. We look back to our own old photographs and feel very gawky in that attire- not at all smart. But at that time those very outfits were in ‘fashion’- the craze of the time and the symbol of smartness.


But here we are talking of a new word, coined up recently some sixteen years ago- TRASHION. This is a mix of two words- trash and fashion. Interesting. How does trash make a dent in fashion! It is turning trash into aesthetics. It is about injecting into the minds of those after a fashion ۔

That some novelty may come out of the blue. Trashion has a philosophy of its own in times of threat to the environment- to lessen the pollution of fashion waste making most of it. When resources have shrunken further back in the present-day world, trashion leads us to satisfy our aesthetic desires well with limited resources. It adds value to the used materials with the aroma of its imagination and creativity. And the products are so appealing – setting a new trend in fashion- the garments, the curtains, the backpacks, the quilts, the bags, the jewelry, and the list goes on.

Trashion has Caught The Trend

Trashion has caught the trend- it has attracted the eyes of the fashionable world over the years. There are trashion artists and designers and it is touching the community’s collective imagination. Trashion Art shows are being organized and hard competitions are going on forgetting the title of trashion queen. And they are using almost 75 percent reused, recycled or repurposed materials. Contemporary artists like Marina DeBris and Nancy Judd are making their distinct mark in the field of trashion.


But nothing is new under the sun. And imagination and creativity are not the prisoners of certain eras. Our ancestors were not unaware of the underlying philosophy of trashion or making something big out of something small. Indians, Africans, Americans, and people throughout the world have been using their aesthetic imaginations to create something new and shining out of scraps for a long. It is something that the art could not get a term.Sujni- a quilt made of leftover clothing materials made in Bihar, Bengal, and other parts of India is a glaring example of trashion much before 2004 when the term was first coined in New Zealand.
Still, without falling into academic discussion over the origin of trashion, we should encourage and adopt this fraternal twin of fashion, understand the philosophy inside it and make the global environment better to live.

written by sanjay kumar kundan 

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