Make-do-and-mend is just a thing of the past; only a
war-time memory. Or is it? Mrs. Sew-and-Sew is just a cartoon from old
magazines- tutoring housewives of the 1940’s in how to stitch clothes. (Ministry
of Information, 2007) Totally irrelevant today. Or is she?
In actual fact, Mrs. Sew-and-Sew and this make-do-and-mend
ethos of a by-gone era could be, and should be, just as important today as it
was during the Second World War.
No, we are not at war with Germany, and no, our men are not
being shipped off to the front-line; but we have declared war on the
environment, and it is up to us now to consider making-do-and-mending and
reducing, reusing and recycling.
The make-do-and-mend booklets of the forties were designed
in response to war-time rationing, but today, they can be redesigned in
response to Twenty-first Century fast fashion.
In 2009, John Lewis released this rework of the classic 1943
booklet which allows the reader an insight into life during WW2 as well as
modern make-do-and-mend tips, and of course timeless advice from Mrs. Sew-and-Sew.
(Wilson, 2009)
Editor of Ideal Home magazine, Isobel
McKenzie-Price says of the book, "The ideas inside are as relevant today
as they were when our grandmothers had to make do and mend, back in the days of
rationing and digging for victory,"
So, join the war on fast fashion…
No comments:
Post a Comment