U.P.Blog

It all started at our Fashion Week Party at International Playground. A group of fabulously accessorized girls showed up and were the life of the party. After some scouting, we discovered they made they were jewelry designers themselves and wanted to hold a fundraiser…

What do you dress for? Seriously, think about it. Remove the preconditioned notion that it’s socially unacceptable to walk around sans clothes. There are a number of reasons, some functional and some frivolous: protection, attraction, deflection, association, decoration, tradition, I could go on. The consensus on our last blog post is that good design solves a problem. Adam Harvey, a fellow Brooklynite, technologist, designer and friend of ours…

Picture this. Stillness in a room full of people. One pristine bell sounds … ding … and a figure walks through the room in a trance wearing indigo chain mail made of tiny hand stitched squares of denim, warrior paint on his face. It’s not a dream. It’s not reality. It’s Aki Goto.

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…

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…

In the upcoming months we are actively looking to collaborate on off-the-cuff conceptual ensembles for the uniforms. Think drama, humor, nerd-factor… grand outfits incorporating wearable technology, reclaimed and recycled materials. If you are interested, send us your ideas/sketches and let’s collaborate.