STUBB RN WEEDS
1
A weed is known as an unwanted plant in a human-controlled environment.
Growing aggressively. Growing invasively.
Like stubborn weeds a movement of self-sustenance is uprooting modern society.
Growing aggressively.
Growing invasively.
WE NEED
STUBB RN
WEEDS
DE S IG N E D AN D C U RAT E D
Stubborn Weeds is a space where fashion can become part of today's back-to-the-land movement
BY CAMILLE LEMOINE
The turbulent events of the past year have helped us nurture a social revolution from our backyards. Witnessing not only the fragility of our food systems in the face of food shortages but the precarity of our own human vulnerability, our instinctual desire to be more selfsustaining and in tune with the Earth’s natural rhythms has resurfaced. Inspired by the return of the Victory Garden, memories of my own homesteading childhood and intimate relationship with my garden sparked a desire for positive transformation. Recognising gardens as places of radical action and change, this publication has evolved to discover the importance of re-localising our food systems and utilising the power of growing, with the hopes of fostering a more social, more collaborative, and more respectful existence from the ground up.
Challenging the idea of what contemporary fashion should look like, Stubborn Weeds embodies this movement by exploring a regenerative approach to creative direction and photography. Every image has been styled using handmade pieces created from existing resources or food itself. After use, the pieces can be either composted or made into a meal (as illustrated in the final pages). The graphic design has also been derived from mark-making using vegetable waste and natural dyes - celebrating imperfections and inconsistencies.
Stubborn Weeds has enabled me to engage with both fashion and the movement of self-sustenance in a way that feels natural to me. Uprooting societal norms and creating change starts with these conversations, and I hope that this publication inspires others in the fashion sphere to join this movement using their own creative voice.
We l c o m e
2 - 5
Plot to Plate
8 - 33
Nourish
34 - 41
Fresh Eggs
42 - 63
Scrappings
64 - 77
Hungry for Change
78 - 85
7
P L TO
PLATE
T
Five years from now I hope to look outside my window onto a community garden
thriving with fresh produce.
The streets outside alive with the sound of the morning market;
an explosion of colours and smells
as people collect local food that will later be cooked in family homes
and the community kitchen.
Feelings of joy, resilience and pride are present
as a new food system revives the feeling of community spirit.
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20
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W 22
hy
can’t
we
pay
for
rent
with
onions?
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N U RI S H
Gardens have ignited a global movement of self-sufficiency.
Redefining our lifestyles to exist in harmony with the earth and our local communities. Growing our own food has become the most radical of acts. Reshaping our political and economic systems from our backyards.
Our current existence is
We must learn to regenerate and replenish. This starts with gardens.
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41
FRESH
E GS
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51
52
53
54
Roosting chickens became one of the most popular lockdown hobbies for home-stayers, sparked by the shortage of eggs in supermarkets. These pages reflect on this ‘bird boom’ that spread across the UK during the first lockdown, playing with ideas of the past and present. Birds were the heart of my childhood, where I would spend hours in the garden playing in the grass with geese, chickens, and ducks. Collecting eggs every morning became second nature, fuelling a need for creativity ahead of mealtimes. It was through these simple, habitual acts where I learnt the importance of sourcing and sustaining fresh produce.
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S
C
R
A
P
P
I
N
G
S
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Cultivating a relationship with our gardens and surrounding environments
will help us diminish food waste.
Whilst growing our own produce,
we begin to understand the labour of love that goes into nurturing good food.
Our meals become symbols of time spent nourishing a seed to stem.
Our meals become something to be savoured and valued.
This ignites a desire to sustain and transform the entirety of our produce,
exploring new forms, flavours and textures.
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71
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This series of imagery emphasises the need to think creatively with food waste, both to reduce it and to find alternative uses. The ovat i ve s o l u t i o n s t o d inn s we f i n a d e n i t b e r e f d e s u ' m 'waste term longevity. When styling these images, discarded crab shells were
retrieved from a local fish monger, whilst the monkey nut shells and green carrot tops were left over from cooking. The suede, cabbage and potatoes were eaten after use and the slices of bread were fed to my family's chickens. All other food was composted afterwards.
H NG R Y U
Photography and creative direction have the opportunity to become part of a movement advocating for a more regenerative fashion industry. The afterlife of an image and its by products are rarely thought about, and the image itself will too often further drive a desire to consume. These final pages share a recipe for a carrot pie,
book. this book. in thiswithin using ingredients that formed the images ages with imfashion using ingredients that formed the fashion From the eggs that were blown to create the skirt in Fresh Eggs on page 50, to the pastry featured as part of Plot to Plate on page 9. The photography within this book intends to celebrate an alternative approach to image making, where the elements within an image are recognised beyond that fleeting moment, e v o l v i ng
i nt
on
ew fo
rms
.
FOR CHANGE
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Enjoy the comforting taste of a classic carrot pie. This recipe was created out of a desire
to creatively use the resources leftover from styling the images wit
INGREDIENTS
hin this
book.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Assemble the pastry into the bottom and up the sides of a pie
Sourced with love, from
plate, using dried beans or rice to way it down.
fashion images.
Bake the pie shell for 3 to 5 minutes, just to firm it up, then remove from the oven, and set aside.
1 cup plant milk Place carrots in a saucepan with enough water to
2 cups carrots (from p 72)
cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender. Drain water, and whiz the carrots until smooth using a
1 roll of pastry dough (from p 9)
food processor.
2 eggs (from p 52)
Mix together the carrot puree, sugar and eggs in a bowl. Add in the cinnamon and vanilla. Gradually stir in the milk. Pour the mixture into the partially
1 tsp vanilla essence
baked pie shell.
1 cup sugar Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 175 degrees C. Bake for an additional
1 tsp cinnamon
40 to 45 minutes at the lower temperature, or until firm. Cool completely before serving. 84
CARR
T PIE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
H e r i o t Wa t t U n i v e r s i t y
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Bitter Hound Designs
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Eilidh Mcdougall Designs
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T h e c o m m u n i t y o f To r r a n c e , S c o t l a n d