Singer-songwriter Sarah Slean has found a way to turn the current economic downfall into profitable ticket sales, press and a hopefully generous environmental donation. Well, at least from fashion-savvy folk, that is.
While travelling as a solo artist throughout May and June for her aptly-titled Recession-ista Tour, she will be working closely with Toronto, ON-based designers (although it would've been cool if she'd have picked one from each city she's hitting), including Comrags, Sunny Fong and Susan Harris, to create one-of-a-kind gowns "fashioned" from reclaimed second-hand garments.
In other words, the old duds you tossed are going to be ravaged for dresses and she'll wear a new one each night. The ecological portion comes post-tour, when the gowns will be auctioned off on eBay, with proceeds going to the David Suzuki Foundation.
"The only thing that can get us out of this environmental mess is also the very thing responsible for getting us into it in the first place: creativity, human ingenuity and ideas," says Slean. "This gives me tremendous hope. By using these occasionally overactive, troublesome brains of ours, we can rethink, reinvent and recast our old ideas into the sustainable lifestyles of the future. Here is my small nod to just that. I am only one person - an artist, hardly an activist - but I commit to cleaning up my tiny corner of the universe. This carbon offset's for you, Suzuki! That's all I can do, and I shall do it artfully, with joy and dammit, in a dress."
Recession-ista's unusually-routed tour dates:
5/26 Winnipeg, MB - West End Cultural Centre
5/27 Saskatoon, SK - The Broadway Theatre
5/29 Victoria, BC - St. Ann's Auditorium
5/30 Calgary, AB - The Rosza Centre
5/31 Vancouver, BC - Arts Club Theatre
6/1 Edmonton, AB - Myer Horowitz Theatre
6/3 Kingston, ON - The Grad Club
6/4 Montreal, QC - The Savoy
6/5 Ottawa, ON - The Blacksheep Inn
While travelling as a solo artist throughout May and June for her aptly-titled Recession-ista Tour, she will be working closely with Toronto, ON-based designers (although it would've been cool if she'd have picked one from each city she's hitting), including Comrags, Sunny Fong and Susan Harris, to create one-of-a-kind gowns "fashioned" from reclaimed second-hand garments.
In other words, the old duds you tossed are going to be ravaged for dresses and she'll wear a new one each night. The ecological portion comes post-tour, when the gowns will be auctioned off on eBay, with proceeds going to the David Suzuki Foundation.
"The only thing that can get us out of this environmental mess is also the very thing responsible for getting us into it in the first place: creativity, human ingenuity and ideas," says Slean. "This gives me tremendous hope. By using these occasionally overactive, troublesome brains of ours, we can rethink, reinvent and recast our old ideas into the sustainable lifestyles of the future. Here is my small nod to just that. I am only one person - an artist, hardly an activist - but I commit to cleaning up my tiny corner of the universe. This carbon offset's for you, Suzuki! That's all I can do, and I shall do it artfully, with joy and dammit, in a dress."
Recession-ista's unusually-routed tour dates:
5/26 Winnipeg, MB - West End Cultural Centre
5/27 Saskatoon, SK - The Broadway Theatre
5/29 Victoria, BC - St. Ann's Auditorium
5/30 Calgary, AB - The Rosza Centre
5/31 Vancouver, BC - Arts Club Theatre
6/1 Edmonton, AB - Myer Horowitz Theatre
6/3 Kingston, ON - The Grad Club
6/4 Montreal, QC - The Savoy
6/5 Ottawa, ON - The Blacksheep Inn
