NEW YORK — The idea of making clothes out of discarded pieces of fabric has long been a dream for designers, and the idea is starting to become a reality in some new places.
For a new company called The Cloth Museum, the concept is to use reclaimed clothing to make clothing that has a more modern look and feel, as well as creating products that look as if they were made by someone who spent years in the sewing industry.
“We are using the material to make things like a sweater, pants, and jeans,” said Michelle LeVine, the co-founder and chief operating officer.
“It’s the idea that we are making clothes that are really, really beautiful, and it’s the way that we want to live our lives.”
LeVine and her husband, Tom, opened The Clot Museum in mid-October, with a goal to create an environment where people can shop for clothes that they can wear and feel good about.
They are already seeing a positive impact on their local community.
“You get a sense of pride, you feel like you’re helping a community that has been neglected for a long time,” said Tom LeVines.
The first exhibit in the museum is called The Oldest Fashion.
It is part of a series called Fashion Stories, which will feature pieces from The Clothes Museum, plus a collection of vintage garments from the Smithsonian, The Brooklyn Museum, and other museums.
The exhibition also includes a collection called Fashion From the Past.
The collection includes clothes worn by celebrities, celebrities of the past, and others who have worn the fashion of the era.
“In that first collection, we were able to pull back a bit on the fashion trends of the time, and look at clothing that we know are from a specific era, or from that era’s fashion,” said LeVieres.
“And we can see that these things have a very strong connection to the history of the country.
We can also see that we can connect with that history through these pieces that are so old.”
The museum is also working on a collection for women, called Fashion from the Past: Women’s Clothes, which is part part of an initiative with the National Women’s History Museum and will be part of the museum’s exhibit about the women’s movement in the 19th century.
“That collection is one that we wanted to really bring to life, because we wanted people to see that there is a women’s history of clothing,” said Lauren Zeller, a curator with the museum.
“I think that the fact that women’s clothes have been used to create women’s lives in many different ways, from fashion and sewing to home decorating and even medicine, it is something that has had a strong connection with people.”
The new fashion shows are also being featured in the New York Fashion Week and at the Museum of the Moving Image exhibit at the National Museum of American History.