An Ethic of Love for Fashion and Textiles
Words by Ania Zoltkowski, photography by Sam Copeland
At a sustainable fashion panel discussion last night, I was asked, “In a perfect world, what would constitute a perfect sustainable fashion system?”
I immediately replied, “Love. A system built on and from Love. Because when there is Love at the foundation of the system, care, reverence, reciprocity, respect, and radical responsibility are the threads that can’t help but organically emerge from this place.”
“And what does this look like?” they asked. I smiled: “You tell me.”
When you connect to Love, what wants to emerge from that place?
I refer to Love here with a capital L as an energy, a beingness, an action that moves beyond the context of emotions or romantic partnerships. What I refer to here is the practice of unconditional Love, where Love is found within every breath, every movement that permeates our universe. Rabbi Marc Ghafni and Dr Kristina Kincaid share that we live in a world of outrageous pain, and the only way through this is through what they call “outrageous Love”. They refer to this as that which pulses through all of creation and evolution, pure Love intelligence. Most of society practices conditional Love, meaning that Love is only given if it fits into a particular form. For example, I will love you or this only if I receive x, y and z in return. Unconditional Love loves openly and freely and is not dependent on what is received in return. It takes courage, practice, humility and nonattachment to Love this way. bell hooks teaches us that “Love is a practice” as we are continually being put into situations and environments where we can lean further into Love and remain open or instead turn away. So what will it be?
To Love despite the chaos and destruction is not only a choice. It is a bodily receptivity that we can open up to in each moment. It moves beyond the mind and also encompasses our hearts, spirits and bodies. The integration of All creation. Unconditional Love does not always return to us as we expect it. it is, at times, subtle and surprising in its reciprocity. Learning to lean further into Love and learning to receive Love from each waking moment strengthens our receptivity to experience more of it. At times, Love requires heartbreak, letting go or having to set firm boundaries. All of this is Love, too, the full spectrum of the human experience.
Team Credits:
Words: Ania Zoltkowski
Photography: Sam Copeland
Production: Shiny Projects
Styling: Grace Joel
Set Design: Josh Stovell
Model: Riyam
Casting: Bella @TheLine
Makeup: Emily Porter
Hair: Ditte Lund Lassen
I have learned that the purest Love I experience comes from Loving what is in front of me fully, without bypassing, without attachment, without trying to fix, change or control. A not so easy feat.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___Can we Love strangers, insects, the animals we deem not so cuddly, can we even Love plastic?
Can we Love our complexities, the pain, fear and self-hatred?
Important to clarify is that this is not about being okay with the endless pillaging and exploitation of Mother Earth and her beings. Love does not just hide these Earthly complexities. Instead, it is about being with what is and, from that place, choosing to Love regardless and create something different. Love can be found in the uncomfortable feelings, the hard conversations, and in death itself. Many cultures celebrate the lives of their deceased through joyous and reverent death rituals. Grief is also Love.
How can you Love the world in each moment? Can you allow each moment to make Love to you just as you are, just as it is now?
Loving all of creation
Love allows us to sense the interconnectedness between all of creation, ourselves and all life, that which is visible and invisible. To Love is to attune to this pulse of the universe and, through this, experience life in all of its wholeness. hooks invites us to consider how the practice of Love may help contribute to a greater understanding of the world. to bring forth more sustainable, flourishing futures, we must change our relationship with the world and how we relate to all life itself.
Entrenched as I have been in the fashion and sustainability spaces for the past 15 years, what I see as missing from change-making and transitions is a connection to the practice of Love. Underneath it all, why do we even want change? Why bother trying so hard to create something different? It seems like an uphill battle at times, no? Ask anyone involved, and what emerges from deep down is the driving force of Love. Underlyingly, it always was and always will be about Love. No matter how much distortion arises and how the foundational motives become forgotten, the original driving essence is Love. I often share this quote from Buddhist monk Thích nhât Hanh, and it can’t be shared enough:
“Real change will only happen when we fall in love with our planet. Only love can show us how to live in harmony with nature and with each other and save us from the devastating effects of environmental destruction and climate change.” 4
Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee builds on this as he shares: “The Earth has been wounded by our greed and exploitation, and by our forgetfulness of its sacred nature. it needs us to remember and reconnect, to once again recognize that we are not separate but a part of this living being. And love is the simplest key to this reconnection, because the nature of love is oneness.” 5
Love is about holding the Earth as sacred, about holding humans as sacred, about holding all beings, all matter within this universe AS SACREd. It is present in every breath, every stone, every object, every garment, every stitch and every seam. Vaughan-Lee says that in “the oneness of Love, everything is included, and everything is sacred”. Being in the practice of Love allows us to connect to the Earth and all beings as alive, as sentient, as vibrant, as agentic, all equally as much part of this world as we are. Love is about dissolving the separation between humans and nature, between nature and culture, and between the physical and energetic. it is these divisions that keep us separated from Love.
An ethos of Love, of how we relate to the world, IS the starting point for real change. The planet is alive, and what is needed is that we extend our practice of Love beyond just the human to encompass ALL beings and ALL matter. So how do we return Love back to the Earth?
It is in the small acts of relating through reverence, reciprocity, care. It is about cherishing, nourishing, protecting. Planting some local seeds, saying a hearted hello to the neighbourhood trees, walking barefoot with intention and in gratitude, and seeing the world in awe through all its beauty, radiance and magnificence. And how do we return Love back to the Earth through fashion? For fashion, dress and textiles, how can we give a moment’s gratitude for the garment upon our backs and to the Earth and all the communities that it took to create it for us? Can we feel the material’s texture against our skin, revelling in the sensations that arise from this interaction? Can we be in such deep gratitude for the creativity that is the life force that permeates through us that we are inspired to create, to sew, to stitch, to make? Can we sense how the materials in front of us, upon our bodies, are the result of a multitude of touchpoints of Earth, of hands, of Love?
The Earth is unconditionally giving, unconditionally Loving. Even though she is being desecrated, she continues to give, to share, to hold, to nourish. She is teaching us if we choose to listen.
Love as revolution
The incredible power source that is Love can awaken us into inspired action. Cultivating a Love ethic for the good of the world can shape participation in society, culture, and politics. 6
What would fashion and all of its interrelated practices be like with Love at its core?
Creating sustainable and flourishing worlds requires us to go to places we may have never been before. It requires us to let go of some of what we know, how we do things, and how we are in the world. There is a lot to let go of, remember and reconnect to. The practice of Love is a practice of remaining open and receptive to others, to diverse perspectives, divergent contexts and experiences. When we remain open and curious, even if our worldview and opinions are being challenged, we can be expanded through other possibilities that we may not have noticed before. We may be delightfully surprised. How do we collectively and individually open and become more receptive to the world around us?
Opening ourselves up is a vulnerable practice, as we lean into not knowing and its dynamic complexities. Emerging from a place of Love allows oneself and one’s community to be held in the unknown, as the weave of Love holds all confusion, overwhelm and un- certainty, and can bring clarity. A surrender into Love can be a grounding force as we descend our roots deep into the Earth and then into unfamiliar terrain where nothing will be the same again. Biologists Humberto Maturana and Gerda Verden-Zöller claim that “We have only the world that we bring forth with others, and only Love helps us bring it forth”. 7 Healing in our world will not be fuelled through more separation, universalism, cancelling, calling out, polarizing, shaming or guilting. True healing will occur through Love. To imbue sustainability with Love at its core is an act of rebellion, an act of resistance away from some of the current measures of separation and “solution-driven sustainability” that dictates that change can be reached only through rational, empirical, technocratic pathways. In his speech “The Revolution of Love” at the inauguration of the Berlin Extinction Rebellion camp in 2019, Charles Eisenstein shared the importance of moving away from a society of “domination to one of participation, from conquest to co-creation, from extraction to regeneration, from harm to healing, and from separation to Love – the revolution is Love!” 8
Seeing fashion anew through the lens of Love
Resensitizing ourselves to the world around us through our bodies, hearts, spirits and minds helps us to engage in a deeper practice of Love. When we are attuned to reality, both that which is visible and that which is invisible, we can feel the pulse of life. The pulse of life is Love, an ethos to be integrated into all facets if we are to shift towards more beautiful, sustainable, flourishing fashion worlds. So, how does each thread of fashion become the weave of Love?
I am a fashion designer, researcher and educator, and I often think about not only how to imbue Love into my personal creative practice, but how to further extend it into the classroom. I am inspired by Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire’s theory on education as a transformative, liberating process through which both teachers and students could impact the world around them.9 So much of our fashion learning and learning in general starts in the classroom, a stage full of potential experiences of Love. Love flourishes in environments where people, in this case teachers, recognize the core foundations of Love and embody them in proper relational contexts.10 Some of the practices of Love I utilize in the classroom include creating a safe space where all students feel free to express themselves and their viewpoints, and are encouraged to embrace their own unique learning styles, as well as experimenting with nontraditional ways of sharing knowledge, such as through meditation, working outside in gardens, moving the body and more. I hope that these little intentional acts make it easier for my students to imbue Love into their own worlds.
So, how do we cultivate a practice of Love in fashion?
Within your fashion and textile context, the practice of Love may look like your devotion to your craft and the reverence that you infuse into each stitch, each presentation and each social media post.
A practice of Love may look like relating to your team of makers, machinists, pattern cutters and suppliers not as part of a supply chain but as part of your fashion community that is there to support you and vice versa.
A practice of Love may be found in the honouring of the microbial, plant, animal, soil and Earth kingdoms that are helping you in each living, breathing moment.
A practice of Love may ask you to expand your aesthetics to appreciate multiple and diverse visual identities that may not fit in with yours.
A practice of Love may be found in your connecting to your local context and place.
A practice of Love may ask you to care for your local place as part of your fashion making.
How would Love like to emerge within your unique fashion and textile context?
Moving forward with Love as a liberating fashion practice
Love tunes us into life’s heartbeat. It resensitizes us to the world around us, to what is occurring in the now. It is not always pleasurable, but it is honest. When we live our life with the intention to embody Love, we can reach into the magical nature of our human existence in this incredible universe. We can attune to the sacred as found within the entire web of life. Love is, therefore, a liberating practice as it connects us to the essence and truth of who we are here in this world. in a world that tries to disconnect us from this each day, Love can liberate us, our power source.
All great social, political and cultural movements for peace and justice have always been founded upon an ethic of Love. Love for Earth, Humans, Sovereignty, Equality, Freedom, Expression, Joy and Healing. Love is the liberation we need as we untangle from the threads that no longer serve the worlds our hearts are desiring to create.
Can we lean into an ethic of Love for Fashion and Textiles?
Ania Zoltkowski is a pluriversal fashion and textile designer, visionary, educator, and researcher. Her work focuses on creating regenerative futures through the integration of relational, spiritual, heart-centred, embodied and sovereign ways of enquiring about and creating clothing and textiles.