EMELIE’S SUIT
by Grace Morenko
Grace Morenko
Grace Morenko is a Brooklyn based designer with a passion for design and sustainability. Born and raised in New York City, she has been inspired by the incredible architecture, design, and technology of the city her whole life. Grace received her BA in Architecture, "Integrated Design and Engineering" (industrial design) and Art History at Wesleyan University in 2020. Grace believes designers can (and should) find novel solutions to global issues and is dedicated to pursuing this throughout her career as a bio-artist.
this project aims to address the disconnect between our bodies and environments perpetuated by the modern fashion industry, under the lens of reviving lost family history and human traditions.
This piece was done for the Artist in Residency Program at SVA, and is inspired by stories of my great grandmother Emilie.
Emilie’s Suit was completely grown, dyed, and woven using biomaterials and kitchen waste, mimicking an original pink and yellow tweed suit made by Emilie herself to transcend these issues over multiple generations.
My great grandmother began working as a seamstress for wealthy women, after escaping from Poland in the late 1930’s. She was accustomed to up-cycling high end scraps from the clothes she made from them - transforming the extra material into pieces for herself and her family.
Inspired by one of her last pieces - a three piece yellow and pink Chanel-esque suit - I created a woven top from a bio-leather dyed with beetroot and turmeric sourced from my own kitchen waste.
The process of growing, dyeing, weaving and constructing this top reminded me to reflect on the lost connection between ourselves and the materials we encase our bodies in - a relationship that was once the norm.
