This month I was planning to post on a relatively new designer who uses vintage fabrics, but I decided to give a little credit to some originators of the trend. Since the fiftyRX3 project is for the year 2006, we'll start the year with an earlier designer. The fact that I think 2000 is early just underscores how young sustainable design is.

In 2000 Tara Subkoff and Matt Damhave teamed up to rework vintage and thrift store finds under the label of Imitation of Christ. I don't think they were trying to be environmentally friendly as much as they were trying to shake up the establishment. However, IOC has mixed political commentary into their fashion shows. They held a couple of renegade style shows off season before showing their first collection during the Spring 2001 fashion week. The show was all reworked vintage and held in a funeral parlor in the East Village. They created instant buzz, but at the same time, reading reviews, one gets the sense that, as time has progressed, fashion editors could do with more clothes and less theatrics. Eventually the duo split and Tara continued to design IOC on her own. Now five years later, there is no more reworked vintage. However, Imitation of Christ has to be credited for being at the forefront of recycled fashion.

"In just one season, the duo has managed to garner an unprecedented amount of interest—thanks in part, no doubt, to high-profile celebrity friends like Chloë Sevigny and Natasha Lyonne. For their first show, Subkoff and Damhave took over an East Village funeral parlor—complete with casket—and sent down the makeshift runway 51 dramatically clad mourners."


For their Fall 2001 show they continued the vintage theme, but this time at a faux movie premiere. The attendees took their seats and watched live footage of the models arriving to the theater pretending to attend a Hollywood premiere. The guests were asked to make a charity donation to Sweatshop Watch and Free the Children. A short movie depicting the trials and tribulations of L.A.'s gilded youth with appearances by Élodie Bouchez, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair was shown while a documentary about the harsh working conditions in Central American free-trade zones was simultaneously presented.


The playful theatrics continued as the tables were turned on the fashion editors. For Spring 2002, IOC had the models in the front row while the guests walked the runway.



A mock auction at Sotheby's for Fall 2002 drew the typical crowd hip and arty. This was the last show for the duo. Matt Damhave left Tara as IOC's sole designer.





"Spring 2003. 'It's madness!' said Chloë Sevigny of the event staged by Imitation of Christ at the Maurice Villency furniture showroom in midtown Manhattan. 'Madness, in a good way.' On the ground floor, topless models in very abbreviated shorts pranced around while pushing shiny vacuum cleaners (very David LaChapelle meets Vanessa Beecroft). They were flanked by vitrines filled with grass and live butterflies, and downstairs the Black Dice played cacophonous instrumental music as art videos and tapes of old IOC shows flickered on the walls. A commentary on the hothouse worlds of art and fashion? A metaphor for the separation between viewer and viewed (a well-worn IOC theme)? Whatever the intention, the end result was that the label's pretty, wearable clothes were—once again—sacrificed to the spectacle. "



The circus was the setting for Fall 2003 and here is where we begin to see newly produced non vintage items appear.


For Spring 2004 Subkoff presented looks designed, rather than reclaimed and included printed T-shirt dresses, mini-togas, and twenties-inspired tennis outfits, mostly in knit fabrics. The rest was vintage with an Imitation of Christ twist.


I loved the gold Puma boots in the Fall 2004 show which marked the end of reworked vintage pieces being presented.

"Though reworked vintage will continue to be available by special order, Subkoff, for now, seems focused on her own original designs. This takes her out of an increasingly crowded niche, but how well she can fare in a bigger, more competitive arena remains to be seen."



While the clothes may be more about style than statement IOC's Spring 2005 show had heavy overtones protesting the war in Iraq.

"Subkoff's collections are more and more about wearable separates, with no vintage in sight. This season her simple Capris, hoodies, pompom cover-ups, and spangle-trimmed dresses were as appealing as ever, worn with the insouciant slouch of the disenfranchised hipster—and the gladiator sandals Subkoff designed for Easy Spirit."



Mother, Inc performed, Damien Hirst decorated and Tara designed @ Lever House for Fall 2005.




No longer vintage, but now vintage inspired. For her last show Tara (above) presented IOC's denim collection and some hand painted dresses that she showed on dancers, who were dancing, of course. The dresses debuted during the Paris couture. There were also one-of-a-kind hand-painted pieces by Rita Ackermann and Ben Cho, among others, which will be sold to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Stay tuned to see what Subkoff will dream up for Imitation of Christ at the upcoming Fall 2006 shows. (all quotes and photos via style.com)