“The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper and reimagines the world”
Malcolm Gladstone
Betsy McCall original paper doll and clothes.
Once upon a time, in the 1950’s, young girls learned about fashion, style and dressing by playing with paper dolls. Many of today’s Grandmothers may remember spending many happy hours playing with a particularly popular doll named Betsy McCall. Betsy came printed inside the McCalls magazine and could be carefully cut out along with themed and seasonal ensembles. She was introduced in 1951 and was quickly embraced by a generation—until Barbie came along in 1959 and created a new cultural icon and forecasted a major cultural shift. Today Betsy McCall and her paper clothes are considered vintage collectibles, but the concept of paper clothing lived on in the imagination of yet-to-be-famous designers.
YSL with his “Les Paper Doll” collection
The original viral dress? The paper dress. Bold prints, pop-art influences, and a glimpse into fashion’s future—over 60 years ago.
As early as 1953 and 1954, a young Yves Saint Laurent created “Les Paper Dolls” collection by cutting out his favorite models from magazines and designing clothes for them. By the 1960’s and 1970’s many convulsive cultural shifts engulfed media, music, art (pop culture), redefined gender roles, pushed the envelope of self-expression and raised environmental concerns — paralleling cultural forces of today. Fashion designers sought to reflect many of these these emerging attitudes through their creations and use of materials. Yves Saint Laurent used both Pop art images and paper for some of his collections in the early 1960’s. By 1966 the paper dress was a craze with designers and the public. The Scott Paper Company produced disposable dresses with bold prints, as did Campbell’s soup (The Souper dress—choose your favorite soup as the print!) and other companies who offered paper dresses as a premium—just send in proof of purchase of their product and receive a brightly patterned paper dress. For a brief time hopes ran high for a revolution in clothing, however, demand dropped quickly as the paper was not really practical nor particularly comfortable.
Paper, as we generally know it today, was invented in China about 100BC and used plant fibers and later wood pulp. It was this paper that was used for garments in the 1960’s and proved to be unsuitable for clothing. Though China did produce clothing from paper, it was the Japanese who developed a paper from the fibers of the mulberry tree that was ultimately appropriate for clothing. This paper, known as “Washi,” was initially used for lanterns, screens, origami and art. Eventually, a technique was discovered whereby threads could be extracted from the Washi paper and woven into a cloth, which was lightweight, breathable and wicked away moisture. Court elites began wearing this fabric in kimono and obis, elevating its status. Washi fabric was eventually blended with silk, cotton and other fibers expanding its properties for clothing. New weaving techniques created complex patterns and textures and natural dyes produced vibrant colors. This Japanese Washi fabric is what is predominantly used in the new sustainability movement in clothing. Designers such as Issey Miyake, Yohi Yamamoto and Kenzo Takada were among the first to experiment with this paper in their designs. (See Ha, So, Hi, Ma: How Japanese Designers Changed Silhouette, Structure and Space).
Photos from British designer, Ann Lines. Pics from her IG @annmadepaper
Today many of the same cultural forces of the 1960’s are resurrecting renewed concern about the ecological impact of clothing production. Fabric manufacturers and designers are once again exploring paper blends as a fabric option. Individual designers from Croatia to Trinidad, Korea to Brazil and Sweden boast some of the most striking creations. Ann Lines, a British designer, creates seemingly impossibly complex garments out of paper by painstakingly starting with making her own paper! There are many annual fashion events solely featuring fashions created from paper: the annual “Paper Fashion Show” in Denver, “Paper On Skin Competition” in Tasmania, the Pratt Institute and others challenge the imagination with couture level designs.
Made from Washi fabric, this lightweight sweater is from Muji
Both luxury and mainstream brands are integrating paper based fabric into their garments. In the luxury category are Loro Piana, Hermès and menswear brand Zegna, who all use Washi derived fabrics for lightweight sweaters, shirts and summer/resort wear. Examples among more mainstream brands are Theory, Muji and Maison 910 (100% paper blended jeans and jackets). Retailers featuring both paper blended fabrics and other regenerated fibers are H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Mango and Ganni. These new more eco-friendly fabrics can fool the sense of touch as their “hand”—the feel of a fabric—do not feel like the paper one handles daily. I recently bought a T-top that had the elevated, crispness of a linen or linen-cotton fabric. I was surprised to learn it was a paper based fabric by Partow!
The endeavor to incorporate bio-degradable paper into clothing is now a worldwide goal. There is even a firm in Japan, aloof home, that has developed a closed circle of paper based clothing. The consumer can purchase paper based clothing and when returned within 180 days, receive a 30% discount on their next purchase. The fully bio-degradable returned items are shredded and turned into fertilizing pellets used to grow organic vegetables! Someday in the future you may be able to have your Purely Personal wardrobe and eat it too!
For more incredible paper fashion designs visit:
@annmadepaper
@paperfashionshow
@paperonskin
