The Nature of Fashion
A Botanical Story of Our Material Lives
Carry Somer’s fascinating book The Nature of Fashion is about how humans have used plants to make textiles across time.
About the profound impact of textiles on the planet and on human society, the book begins by considering the oldest piece of string ever found, which has been dated to between 41,000 and 52,000 years of age. Contemporary work in sustainable fashion is also considered. It is a story told through stories: Each chapter has at least one, often multiple, tales of how people have interacted with plants to make or distribute textiles. Some, as with the stories of the Abá people in Uruguay, who lived as equals before they were forced to grow cotton by the Jesuits, are straightforward bits of history. Eliza Lucas Pinckney, for example, is credited for being the first person in South Carolina to grow indigo and turn it into pigment for textiles. Other tales are built on speculation, drawing on archaeological discoveries, as with an imagined scene of a Neanderthal woman making string in the Ice Age.
Humanizing textiles both as works of art built on the labor and creativity of countless people and as products often created in exploitative societies, the book expresses hope for a healthier, more connected relationship with nature and each other. Each section focuses on topics like solidarity, balance, and connectedness, proffering lessons on sustainability, living in harmony with the earth, and the roles of Indigenous communities in making textiles. The prose is lyrical and measured, too, elevating these studies of textiles into explorations of human society.
Advocating for more sustainability within textiles industries, based on an understanding of the world that connects manufacturing with humanity, The Nature of Fashion is a captivating book.
Reviewed by
Carolina Ciucci
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
