The Rational Dress Society presented A History of Counter-Fashion at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on December 6th 2016.
The Rational Dress Society presents THROW AWAY ALL OF YOUR CLOTHES!! at Connect+ Hyde Park, November 18th-20th 2016.
In this two-day workshop at Central Features Contemporary Art in Albuquerque participants learned to make their own JUMPSUIT using the official Rational Dress Society pattern. At the end of the workshop, participants were invited to throw away all their clothes!
JUMPSUIT exhibited in Reform: Subversive Fashion at Central Features Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, August 26- September 30 2016.
In this two-day workshop at the Women’s Center for Creative Work in Los Angeles participants learned to make their own JUMPSUIT using the official Rational Dress Society pattern. At the end of the workshop, participants were invited to throw away all their clothes!
The Rational Dress Society staged a protest outside of the Forever 21 headquarters July 16th 2016.
In this two-day workshop at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago participants learned to make their own JUMPSUIT using the official Rational Dress Society pattern. At the end of the workshop, participants were invited to throw away all their clothes!
In this two-day workshop at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago participants learned to make their own JUMPSUIT using the official Rational Dress Society pattern. At the end of the workshop, participants were invited to throw away all their clothes!
The Rational Dress Society presents
JUMPSUIT at The Hyde Park Art Center
May 19, 2016 6-8pm
Rational Dress Society co-founders Abigail Glaum-Lathbury and Maura Brewer invite you to participate in a re-imagining of our collective relationship to dress. What if you never had to pick out an outfit again? What bonds might be formed between JUMPSUIT-wearing individuals? Join us for a performance lecture and discussion and find out!
Rooted in the visual language of denim and the history of work wear, JUMPSUIT imagines the possibility of an egalitarian garment, liberated from the signs of class, race and gender that inscribe our usual relation to fashion.
Together, we will trace histories of radical dress, dress reform movements and recent shifts in the fashion industry that have lead to the fast fashion model of production and consumption, as well as the conceptual parameters and technical specifications of the project.
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016
12:30PM TO 2:00PM
HOKIN LECTURE HALL
109 623 S. WABASH, CHICAGO, IL 60605
Rational Dress Society co-founders Abigail Glaum-Lathbury and Maura Brewer invite you to participate in a re-imagining of our collective relationship to dress. What if you never had to pick out an outfit again? What bonds might be formed between JUMPSUIT-wearing individuals? Join us for a performance lecture and discussion and find out!
Rooted in the visual language of denim and the history of work wear, JUMPSUIT imagines the possibility of an egalitarian garment, liberated from the signs of class, race and gender that inscribe our usual relation to fashion.
Together, we will trace histories of radical dress, dress reform movements and recent shifts in the fashion industry that have lead to the fast fashion model of production and consumption, as well as the conceptual parameters and technical specifications of the project.
The Rational Dress Society are artists in residence at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago from April 1-June 30, 2016. During their residency, the RDS will be hosting workshops, events, and lectures.
The Rational Dress Society presents JUMPSUIT
Loyola University, Department of Art
April 4, 2016 8-9:30pm.
Rational Dress Society co-founders Abigail Glaum-Lathbury and Maura Brewer invite you to participate in a re-imagining of our collective relationship to dress. What if you never had to pick out an outfit again? What bonds might be formed between JUMPSUIT-wearing individuals? Join us for a performance lecture and discussion and find out!
Rooted in the visual language of denim and the history of work wear, JUMPSUIT imagines the possibility of an egalitarian garment, liberated from the signs of class, race and gender that inscribe our usual relation to fashion.
Together, we will trace histories of radical dress, dress reform movements and recent shifts in the fashion industry that have lead to the fast fashion model of production and consumption, as well as the conceptual parameters and technical specifications of the project.
The Rational Dress Society at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
April 4th, 2016
12:00 TO 1:00 PM
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
7th Floor, 36 S. Wabash, Chicago, IL
Rational Dress Society co-founders Abigail Glaum-Lathbury and Maura Brewer invite you to participate in a re-imagining of our collective relationship to dress. What if you never had to pick out an outfit again? What bonds might be formed between JUMPSUIT-wearing individuals?
The RDS is pleased to present JUMPSUIT, an ungendered, universal monogarment for everyday wear. This lecture will cover both the technical and conceptual parameters of the project, as well as the current economic conditions that JUMPSUIT hopes to address: the deregulation of the garment industry and the rise of fast fashion.
FAST FASHION
In 1985, 70% of American’s clothes were made in the United States, in the year 2015 that number has dropped to less than 5%. Rates of production in the fashion industry have increased exponentially; with the advent of fast-fashion purveyors like Zara, H&M and Forever 21 a garment can go from conceptualization to store shelves in a matter of weeks. These companies employ a model of planned obsolescence, in which (by their own admission) clothes are made to last no more than ten wash cycles, thereby insuring that consumers will keep apace with accelerated rates of production. We at the Rational Dress Society believe that the current system is unsustainable. JUMPSUIT offers a way out: an open source, ungendered monogarment to replace all clothes in perpetuity.
TECHNICAL PARAMETERS
The design for JUMPSUIT is based on an ungendered sizing system, in which patterns are not derived from the typical male/female two pattern standard, but are made up of six base patterns, each determined by a variable hip to shoulder ratio. The result is 120 sizes, accommodating a wide variety of body types. JUMPSUIT rejects the impossible standards of body type and size that govern the fashion industry, and therefore aims to create a garment that is radically inclusionary, fostering solidarity between wearers.
The Rational Dress Society is delighted to announce a three month residency at Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center beginning April 1st and running through June 30th. We will be hosting Make Your Own JUMPSUIT workshops, panel discussions, and organizing a parade where we will collectively reject choice, (otherwise defined as the yoke of relentless consumption within the capitalist paradigm.) Check back for more info, and a complete schedule of events.
The Rational Dress Society staged an intervention outside of a New York Fashion Week Saturday February 13th 2016, where we invited attendees to Embrace Rational Dress.
Solidarity in JUMPSUITS at New York Fashion Week!
The Rational Dress Society is pleased to announce that the entire office of Anderson Miller, Ltd. (heretofore known as the Anderson Miller Society of Equals) has been outfitted in JUMPSUIT! http://www.andersonmiller.com
Carol Frances Lung’s class at Cal State Los Angeles made their own JUMPSUITS as part of their Fall 2015 course work. Each student was given an official Rational Dress Society pattern, and learned to construct their own JUMPSUIT using a fabric of their choice.
The Rational Dress Society staged an intervention at The Grove Mall in Los Angeles California on October 10th, 2015. During this guerilla action, we invited passers by to free themselves from the tyranny of Michael Kors.
In this two-day workshop at Machine Project in Los Angeles participants learned to make their own JUMPSUIT using the official Rational Dress Society pattern. At the end of the workshop, participants were invited to throw away all their clothes!
The Rational Dress Society held its inaugural pop-up shop on October 7th, 2015 at leiminspace in Los Angeles California.
The Rational Dress Society presents JUMPSUIT
at Art Center College of Design
October 06, 2015
Pasadena, CA
Rational Dress Society co-founders Abigail Glaum-Lathbury and Maura Brewer invite you to participate in a re-imagining of our collective relationship to dress. What if you never had to pick out an outfit again? What bonds might be formed between JUMPSUIT-wearing individuals?
The RDS presents JUMPSUIT, an ungendered, universal monogarment for everyday wear. This lecture will cover the conceptual and technical parameters of the project, and the research that influenced the final design of the garment. Topics include the history of revolutionary and egalitarian dress, from the sans-culottes of revolutionary France, the American feminist movement of the 1850s, to the Soviet and Futurist experiments of the early 20th century. The current state of fashion will be discussed, including an examination of the neoliberal economic policies of the 1980s and 90s that resulted in the rise of a fast-fashion industry characterized by planned obsolescence and exploitative labor practices. We suggest that the rejection of choice (otherwise known as the yoke of relentless consumption within the capitalist paradigm) might open us up to new possibilities and better ways of living. In the future, we will be brothers and sisters together in JUMPSUIT!
The Rational Dress Society hosted a Make-your-own-JUMPSUIT demonstration at Sewing Rebellion, in Long Beach, CA, on 10.4.15. During the workshop, The RDS taught participants to construct JUMPSUITS following the official JUMPSUIT pattern.
The Rational Dress Society was delighted to participate in the Fashion = Activism panel at the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator in Brooklyn, New York. Speakers included Carole Francis Lung (aka Frau Fiber), Liz Collins, Otto von Busch and Cat Mazza of Micro Revolt, 9.20.15.
The Rational Dress Society staged an intervention outside of a flagship H&M store in Stockholm Sweden during International Workers Day on May 1st, 2015. During this guerilla action we invited passers by to Omfamna Rationell Klädnad, or Embrace Rational Dress.
The Rational Dress Society presents JUMPSUIT
April 30, 2015
The Uppsala Art Museum
Rational Dress Society co-founders Abigail Glaum-Lathbury and Maura Brewer invite you to participate in a re-imagining of our collective relationship to dress. What if you never had to pick out an outfit again? What bonds might be formed between JUMPSUIT-wearing individuals?
The RDS is pleased to announce the European debut of JUMPSUIT, an ungendered, universal monogarment for everyday wear. This lecture will cover the conceptual and technical parameters of the project, and the research that influenced the final design of the garment. Topics include the history of revolutionary and egalitarian dress, from the sans-culottes of revolutionary France, the American feminist movement of the 1850s, to the Soviet and Futurist experiments of the early 20th century. The current state of fashion will be discussed, including an examination of the neoliberal economic policies of the 1980s and 90s that resulted in the rise of a fast-fashion industry characterized by planned obsolescence and exploitative labor practices. We suggest that the rejection of choice (otherwise known as the yoke of relentless consumption within the capitalist paradigm) might open us up to new possibilities and better ways of living. In the future, we will be brothers and sisters together in JUMPSUIT!
Supported by Konstnärsnämnden. Invitation by Jenny Yurshansky (Mejan Residents 204-2015), and Persbo Studio.
