How far does your denim go? Do you toss it after that first painful sight of a tear on your upper inner thigh? Perhaps you are the type to ditch those well-beloved boot-cuts since GQ has stated that slim is the thing or tapered is next to godliness. Well if you are anything like me, someone who knows that fashion cyclical, I hold onto my denim and I tailor but only sometimes cut, for I know that before long my penchant for thigh-huggers will give way to a serious need for full-cut and puddle-bottomed again.
So since fashion is cyclical, I relish in finding ways to keep that indigo footprint going strong? Enter Clockworks Press, founded in 2016 by Brooklyn-based artist Holly E. Brown whose graphic prints and drawings speak to the idea of the modern creativity. The modern creative is limitless and passionate about developing and finding interesting and diverse techniques to be inspired by. Those techniques can be anything from paper to furniture to plaster de Paris to denim, which is exactly what inspires Ms. Brown. With Clockwork Press, she uses her discerning eye to establish a harmonious union between a canvas of recycled denim and very cools mediums of dyeing and printmaking.
I had the pleasure of seeing firsthand the ingenuity that Ms. Brown creates with Clockworks Press at the recent New York Denim Days along with some of the tools that help her trade. On display were a unique limited edition line of clutch bags that upon closer inspection took the unique and timeless appeal of NYC's beloved water towers and bridges and gave them a balanced life in dyed and printed denim. These clutches started with technology from Recycrom, a completely sustainable dyestuff made from 100% textile production waste, created by the sustainable Italian manufacturing company Officina 39+. Those dyes were then applied to recycled denim by washing in advanced small-batch machines from the textile/garment finishing company Tonello that when combined with Ms. Brown's printing-expertise created an outcome that was seamlessly part dye and part print, but all denim. For the Denim Days Weekend, Clockworks Press offered up 50 of the limited run of 100 bags with the final 50 now available on-line. They also had a small collaboration of cool abstract printed tees with the denim creative collective De Ver Azul. Most recently Clockworks has collaborated with the brand AndAgain on a four-piece printed sustainable denim collection also exclusively available on-line.
It's interesting to note how passionately Clockworks Press aims to immerse itself in the aesthetic of sustainable and adheres itself to those who share in that passion within their respective crafts. They aim to showcase how the power of creativity, community and responsibility can transform art, your style and the planet. What Clockworks Press is onto is establishing a completely sustainable artistic expression onto clothing and accessories by priding itself on being eco-friendly and a utilizer of energy efficiency means. Much like those well-worn jeans of ours, there's so much clothing and production waste that can be repurposed in a wabi-sabi sort of 360 degree fashion. So nice to know that in the hands of artists and visionaries like Ms. Brown, the sad end can sometimes be the promising beginning.
The Clockworks Press limited edition denim clutches and the capsule collaboration with AndAgain are available now on the brand's website here.