University alumnus showcases designs in Eco-Fashion

Just in time for the University’s Green Week festivities and the world’s celebration of Earth Day, University alumnus Jeffery Peavy will host the “1992” Eco-Fashion Show at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center of Oxford at 8 p.m. on April 21

Eco-fashion is a style of fashion derived from the concepts of sustainability and creativity. The trend has gained traction among artistic talent.

Since 2012, Peavy has hosted a fashion show every year around the same time of the University’s Green Week.

The idea for an eco-fashion show started last summer, when he received tons of fabric from various people and had no idea what to do with it.

From pillowcases to old dresses to curtains and upholstery fabric, people gave Peavy anything they felt spoke to who he was as a designer.

“I could have thrown away all of that fabric,” he said. “It was aged, vintage-quality things that no one wanted to wear and no one would prefer to use. I had the opportunity to give those textiles a new meaning and new life.”

The inspiration from people believing in his design potential coupled with his background of studies in costume design and technology allowed Peavy to spend countless hours making costumes for the show.

There was no budget for the show, and no money was spent on materials. Peavy designed and tailored all of the pieces in his unique collection.

“My fashion and design choices are very bold,” he said. “I take risks.”

Inspired by figures like 1960s jazz musician Sun Ra, Peavy sees the world through a spectrum of nothing but color.

“I’m taking materials that had another life and making them into wearable fashion,” he said. “I take those textiles and fabrics and turn that into a medium that’s artistic and speaks to fashion.”

Peavy called it “avant-garde upcycling.”

And not only is the collection an artistic take on recycling, but it also honors the “eclectic style and whimsical attitude” of his beloved grandmother, Inetta “Abby” Quinn.

“’1992′ is a snapshot of the spirit and also some of the fashion and style of my grandmother,” Peavy said.

Though 1992 was the year that Peavy was born, he learned from pictures and stories that his grandmother was a very bold and stylish person.

“She still is,” he laughed. “She had a really nice figure and definitely flaunted it. Her boldness pushed me to want to do fashion.”

It was also that boldness that encouraged Peavy in his endeavors into a career in fashion.

“It wasn’t necessarily embraced for me to be a young black man into fashion, art and theater,” he said. “No one is throwing money at art camp, but people will throw money at football.”

Peavy said his grandmother being eccentric and unapologetic about her style inspired him to push through some of the negativity.

Now the production of his eco-fashion show will pay homage to the intersection of fashion and sustainability.

Or as Peavy likes to say, art and sustainability.

“I definitely believe the eco-fashion show will send a clear message and highlight some of the Green Week festivities, even though it’s not affiliated with Green Week per se,” he said. ”[The message] is to not only see things that are eco and sustainable, but see them in an unconventional light.”

This will be first year law student Will Bedwell’s fourth time attending an eco-fashion show. He is looking forward to how creative members of the community can spread environmental awareness through the outfits and artwork they create.

“Many people have become lifelong stewards of the environment by being first enamored at nature’s beauty,” he said. “I think this event draws people in a similar way through a focus on beautiful fashion in an aesthetic sense but also in the way it is made and what it represents.”