U.P.Blog

You’ve been involved with the Uniform Project for quite some time now. I approached you this April to revamp the Little Black Dress that I wore for 365 days and asked you to transform it into something new to be worn on Day 366. The outcome was incredible. Can you talk about…

If you’ve followed U.P closely, you may have noticed a couple of sharp spikes in our fundraiser for Akanksha this year. Perhaps you’ve been wondering who the angel donors of the project were? Well, there’s been more than a few incredible contributors over the course of the Project (whom we can never thank enough), but we’d like to take the time now to give a certain donor a major shout out.

On May 1st 2010, at the stroke of midnight, with a festive atmosphere in full effect, surrounded by friends old and new, Sheena slipped into a new dress, albeit one that was reclaimed, recycled, renovated and refashioned from a familiar favorite.

A U.P/Shahpar collaboration has been long coming. We’ve been looking forward to working with this vivacious, vociferous talent for a long time now, so when Bahar agreed to donate pieces from her collection towards the U.P we were more than thrilled. As a special treat, here is a little self-made video journal entry from Bahar, to tell you more in her own words.

Another friend to the U.P, Helena Fredriksson’s ingenious pebble wrap necklace is one of our favorite staples. Hailing from Sweden, Helena heads the H Fredriksson label — modern, artistic and sustainably conscious, it’s inspired by the dark psychology of Bergman films and contemporary European painting. As you could probably guess, we’re terribly fond of its melancholic beauty.

Another long-standing supporter of U.P, Scully is currently writing her Master’s thesis titled ‘Approaching Color, A New Curriculum’ at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. While working in the fashion industry, Scully was taken aback by a waste category that was either being ignored or overlooked. The waste in question was all material that was discarded due to indecisiveness of designers whom regularly failed to foresee their color palettes accurately.

Lika Volkova, the creative force behind SANS and a good friend to the U.P, is a true anomaly in the fashion world. Running SANS with Alessandro DeVito, who entered fashion himself by way of monitoring ethical garment factories around the world, the SANS team isn’t afraid of confronting the cold hard fact that garment production is inevitably harmful towards the environment no-matter how you slice it.

Eliza met Max Osterweis a few summers ago through mutual friends and they soon bonded over gin fizz cocktails and games of croquette. Max launched Suno in 2008, a fashion enterprise that we at the U.P are proud to support. You’ll see why. Suno was formed after more than a decade of collecting fabrics on Max’s visits to Kenya. The prospect that Kenya’s…

Tara St. James first wrote to us early last summer. And ever since our first meeting, Tara has been a steadfast supporter and good friend of the U.P. And over these past months our fondness and admiration of her talent is like that proverbial beanstalk that just grows and grows and grows. Study NY, Tara’s label, takes a no-waste approach to fashion whereby…

Remember Sean’s marathon run for the U.P? This post is grossly overdue but we wanted to give you a full account of his run, a story that makes the hairs on our skin rise every time we hear him talk about it. Thanks to all the people who pledged for Sean’s run and fulfilled their promise, he raised $1885 in funds for the kids of Akanskha. Surgeon by day, squash pro and runner by night, here is the marathon story in Sean’s own words…

When fashion gets personal, there’s really no stopping it. Raffaele Ascione is the perfect example. His eye-catching designs, seen on Lady Gaga earlier this year, are inspired by memories and emotions. And the outfit he generously donated to The U.P will make for a lasting memory at The Uniform Project’s 6 Month Anniversary party.

In preparation for Sheena’s trip to Ars Electronica, our friend and designer Kathleen Scully collaborated with us to create a hot hot haute accessory. Working out of New York, her company Rifla aims to accessorize the conscientious bike rider with fashionably sustainable options. From MetroCard holders to helmet hats, Scully creates some super chic items we at U.P love…