Wearing Hair
Should we just grow our own sweaters?
You and I both know this. The supply chain is super messed up. The way humans make clothing is deeply messed up. And it’s almost impossible to find a really good sweater.
So should we just make garments made of human hair?
A company in the Netherlands certainly thinks so
And they’re not the first to think about this. Once you start digging, the idea of wearing human hair is everywhere. Like from designer Alix Bizet:
Or artist Jenni Dutton:
Or sculptor Gu Wenda
Or material researcher Savine Schoorl:
And you might be like… “ick.” Which would be super understandable because wₑ ₗᵢᵥₑ ᵢₙ ₐ ₛₒcᵢₑₜy where hair is gross!
But we didn’t always…
Jewelry made from hair was a massive trend in the Victorian era. And yes, the trend extended into the United States. In fact, here is a locket from the Harvard library collection that contains lock of Emily Dickinson’s parents’ hair braided together
So what happened? Why were we so ok with wearing hair and now we are sooooo not? Could we ever be into wearing hair again?
These mysteries are solved this week by my friend and associate Margot Boyer-Dry. She also has a newsletter, and I highly recommend it.
In part two, Margot and I wonder if it really is all that different to wear another animal’s hair.
So we went to the Queens County Farm Museum (it is extremely cool that this is a full-on farm in New York City) to watch sheep get sheared. This photo looks more intense than it seems. But, as you’ll hear, this was nothing like what Margot or I expected. Nor was it, sadly, how most wool production goes. But it was a remarkable thing to witness.
To learn more about wool from the master, Clara Parkes, and get her guide to who is doing it right, check out The Wool Channel
By the way, a cool Brooklyn-based brand that Clara recommends is Naomi Nomi. They make very chic classic shirts that look like they will last decades.
(And if you’d like to knit yourself- do you know about Ravelry?!)
Other Articles Of Interest
Um. What? I’m still pinching myself. I cannot believe Business Of Fashion thinks this show is worth including in their hall of fame. I’m so chuffed. Thank you, BOF.
TORONTO I’m doing a very special live episode that I hope will be the finale for this year. It will feature the Aurora James (designer and founder of Brother Vellies and the creator of the 15% Pledge) alongside the curator of the Bata Shoe Museum to talk about… shoes! All kinds of shoes! Come! This is not a panel. It’s a full-on live episode. You’ll see.
NEW YORK, it’s the architectural film festival, and the lineup is so good. I’m excited that I’ll be in conversation with my friend and colleague Diana Budds (you might know her from New York Magazine) about the concept of utopia.. right after a showing of a documentary about Chandigarh. (This is in reference to a series Diana and I once worked on together called Nice Try).
Psst would you like free tickets? Use the discount code UTOPIA. voila. They are free. But there are only a few tickets allowed for that code, so hop to it.
Shopping tip: I never quite know what to do about activewear. It’s hard to find workout clothes that are stylish OR sustainable. I mean, yes, sometimes I have bought secondhand sports bras (so sue me!), but I recently heard about Michi and I like their bondage-looking athleisure. It’s the kind of clothing I would actually incorporate into my wardrobe.
This month, if you stop by a pay-what-you-like community bookstore called Recirculation, you will get a chance to witness a beautiful, haunting, profound work of art by my friend Regina Y Evans.
Hang in there.
~Avery
It feels really weird how you just uncritically talk about the wool industry. You also take it for granted that sheep need to keep being bred and shorn by humans. Their lives are not this idyllic romantic painting of the humble shepherd alone in a pasture, but one where their lives are only worth as much as their wool. Lambs are mutilated, and males castrated in horrific ways. The industry norm is speed over any care of the sheep and this is all completely unnecessary. You rightfully question how ethical human hair can be, but when it comes to animal welfare it's a footnote and written off as "some" rather than the industry as a whole.
Being the mouthpiece for propaganda about commodification of these animals is certainly a strange role to elect for yourself. They are not getting small cutting nicks, but large strips of their skin, their tail, and ears are removed during this process. Shearers punch the animals and stomp them into position. Sheep consistently get broken bones from how brutal the shearers are.
Though I guess Clara Parkes is right. It's truly the vegans who are unethical. What can we do but to shear the sheep? We certainly cannot stop breeding them because that might make us choose other materials, and that would be disastrous financially.
There is no way to ethically obtain wool.
I had to return to this episode recently as I was reading the book "Life Ceremony" Sayaka Murata. Not knowing what exactly I signed up for reading the book, when the first short story opened with the main character wearing a sweater of human hair, I instantly thought of this episode! I was like wow this is so cool they know about this. The story then takes a more surreal turn with all the most expensive and high quality products in this world being made from human materials. They talk about bone tables or engagement rings. In the context of the world of the book, this is simply what is done with bodies after they die. The whole book is rather disturbing and bizzare and a bit introspective too, but I think it was quite funny how unprepared I was for the turn it would take because this episode had me less weirded out by the idea of human hair clothes then I might've otherwise