CGD

Having freshly graduated from Liběna Rochová's Studio of Clothing and Footwear Design, Lenka Vacková began seeking ways to cope with the burden her profession places on the environment, and decided to explore the potential of recycled textiles. She created her diploma thesis in cooperation with the Klatex company where she began working soon after graduating as the first designer in its history. In Klatex, the recycled, unwoven textile is made by de-fibering cut material of clean textile waste, which thus does not end up in garbage dumps or incinerators, and is put back into circulation. It is used in the form of separation, sound and thermal insulation and also for textile and upholstering insulation and filling material. The material, which is not sorted according to colors, however, always results in an uninviting grey, industrial fabrics and, for example, wool, cotton or silk – natural materials of precious origin today – are thus degraded by the admixture of polyester and other synthetic materials. This is why Vacková tries to make the recycled material more attractive, sorting it according to color, changing the composition and transforming the waste to both interior and fashion accessories.

Her diploma work included rather spectacular, richly decorated and embroidered one-piece dresses "for princesses", but also purses and even a yoga mat. All the used materials came from waste sources intended for recycling, or materials and agents found by either Lenka or Klatex in the unexploited supplies from the past. Her conceptual approach splendidly capitalizes on the experiences gained during her scholarship in the multifunctional studio of the Danish designer Henrik Vibskov.

Tereza Kozlová

The designer's long-time efforts are based on promoting a sustainable approach in the fashion industry. Even the title and logo of her brand, with her initials L&V, paraphrase a famous fashion conglomerate. Vacková's project Fast or Last does not in fact represent a collection of clothing; it represents the philosophy she works with, and this time it is in the form of a happening. In protest against trends, sweatshops and fast fashion, Lenka had herself tattooed with her own blood. The tattoo looks like a T-shirt composed of logos of supranational companies which embody the culture of consumerism. Blood tattoos, however, vanish over time, just as the ever topical trends do. "We tend to spend a lot of money on things of zero value and minimum lifespan in mere pursuit of the most up-to-date trends. Someone else, however, pays a lot by making these things. And it is sometimes with their own blood," the author explains. For the StainSoulSteel project – the fashion collection by Liběna Rochová – the designer created 26 pairs of shoes and 26 items of headwear, both based on her bachelor thesis. She and Liběna continuously consult each other about their respective ideas regarding the results and each of them always adds something innate. The material used here is silicon, which Vacková hued with colored pigments. In the case of shoes, silicon is cast directly onto nylon stockings and is joined with the heel and a light filling for the sake of preserving the desired shape. The final form looks as if it is wet and flowing down.

Radka Machalická