The water crisis in Flint, Michigan is now in its fourth year, and citizens still have to use bottled water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. Empty plastic bottles became a common sight in Flint.
Renowned fashion designer and Michigan native Tracy Reese designed the Flint Fit collection inspired by the concept of water. Touching the fabrics, you will not believe that they were made from recycled plastic bottles. The collection is proof that recycling makes good things happen.
Flint Fit by Tracy Reese; images: Tracy Reese cfda
Conceptual visual artist Mel Chin partnered with Michigan native Tracy Reese to collaborate on Flint Fit, a project that is turning those empty water bottles from Flint residents into symbols of hope rather than reminders of the disaster. Last week, Tracy Reese gave CFDA a preview of her first Flint Fit collection , made with REPREVE fabric from empty water bottles.
As part of Chin’s exhibition All Over the Place, Tracy Reese’s Flint Fit collection was revealed with a fashion presentation at the Queens Museum’s Watershed Gallery on April 9.
Tracy Reese is an American fashion designer who specializes in women’s ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, and home fashions such as linens. She is a board member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, having been inducted in 2007
“It was Mel’s idea and he contacted us to see if we were interested and we were,” Tracy Reese told CFDA. “And we wanted to create simple pieces that could be produced for consumption, right in Flint, by the women who made them.
The collection consists of nine looks total, including a twill mini anorak, khaki twill overalls, and a khaki twill cover-up with interlock trunks. Reese was inspired by the power and necessity of water, the resiliency of the Flint community, and the manufacturing history of Flint, especially the look of the 1940s, when Flint was a booming production center.
“90,000 water bottles were collected,” explained Reese. “From there, they were sent to Unifi in Greensboro, NC where they were transformed into thread and fabric – they even made a jersey material – and then sewn into garments that are ideally sustainable by Flint residents at the St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center.”
Mel Chin: All Over the Place at The Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the first major presentation in New York City of conceptual artist Mel Chin in more than 20 years. Co-produced by the Queens Museum and No Longer Empty, the career survey will span Chin’s nearly four decades of artistic practice and include three ambitious new commissions. All Over the Place will spread out over a number of exhibition sites in New York City including the Queens Museum; Times Square; Broadway-Lafayette subway station, where Chin’s permanent work Signal is installed; as well asother locations currently in discussion.
All Over the Place features more than 70 works, including drawings, paintings, sculptures,installations, videos, documentation, and public works. The exhibition will be organized aroundkey themes that have resonated throughout Chin’s career, celebrating his practice of constant mutation and evolution, and taking a non-chronological approach to his work over time.
