Through his emerging label Josh Jozsef, designer Josh Bognar draws attention to construction of clothing and the value of a label. He tells Madeleine Crutchley about an award-winning purse that encapsulates his ethos.
How would you represent the expansive, fast-moving, global qualities of fashion today?
Emerging designer Josh Bognar
New Zealand Fashion Revolution awarded the purse the top prize in the accessory category for this year’s Fabric Forward Upcycling Design Challenge.
For Fashion Revolution’s Amy Conlon and Amanda Butterworth, Josh’s entry encapsulated the competition’s ethos.
“Originality, craftsmanship, and a sense of style that feels both current and enduring. The way [Josh] elevated often overlooked materials into something so beautiful and covetable truly reflects the power of creativity in addressing sustainability challenges in fashion.”
Josh frequently fashions secondhand and landfill-destined fabrics into streetwear garments with a distinct patchwork aesthetic. They’re flashy, full of contrast and feature materials from all sorts of clothing.
While amalgamating these wide-ranging materials, Josh began to stockpile the teensy labels he would snip off during his sewing process.
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Advertise with NZME.“It was just another piece of something that came off the garment that I couldn’t throw away,” Josh explains.
“I couldn’t really put the labels in my recycled garments but I could collect them and turn them into something else.”
It was during his showing at Te Wiki Āhua o Aotearoa in March that his vision for the logo laden purse materialised. The NZ Fashion Revolution Competition provided the impetus of a deadline and he worked to properly realise the idea.
“I did an all-recycled collection where I was patchworking all the fabrics together and I [thought], ‘it would be really cool if I could do the same thing at a smaller scale’.”
Josh was drawn to the labels because of the level of detailing, their high quality and the cultural connotations their symbols evoke.
“It can draw a lot of questions in terms of value. If the value is in the label and I’ve covered something in labels, does that suddenly increase the value? Decrease the value?”
The judges also picked up Josh’s commentary on assumed value.
“It also highlights how upcycling can shift the way we perceive value of clothing and labels, showing that with care and imagination, even items that might otherwise be discarded for such small insignificance can become pieces to treasure.”
The design, cramming labels from a breadth of brands, is reminiscent of logomania – which can be utilised as a strident signifier of wealth or, when it’s entirely excessive and re-mixing recognisable symbols, as a playful, post-ironic commentary on consumption. Josh’s take, with a sustainability lens, nods to the latter.
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Other young designers in Josh’s cohort share the sensibility for symbolic hijacking. At New Zealand Fashion Week: Kahuria, Whitecliffe graduate Tae Lee, of TY, showcased garments and bags that rehashed familiar logos from prominent supermarket and fashion companies. Local brand Palmah has approached more gently: consider their ‘Winnie Blues’ T-shirt, featuring a downtrodden Winnie The Pooh.
For the young designer, who studied at Massey University, sustainable design practices are an exciting pursuit. The ethos has developed the more Josh has come into contact with waste materials.
“I think I’ve almost tricked myself into loving sustainable fashion.
“The patchwork is so fun and visually rewarding. Really stitching something together brings me so much joy.”
The designer is curious as to whether his waste-saving pieces will resonate with fashion fans (he’s currently toying with retailing one-off pieces). The designs are visually loud, Josh says, and challenge expectations around what creates value for a garment.
“I’d love to see people’s reactions knowing it’s coming from, essentially, scraps and recycled garments. It is a brand-new garment, but it’s not a new grouping of materials.”
Josh’s approach to design is a waste-saving exercise that shows its working. It’s a paradigm the designer finds tricky. Methods that rescue and repair damaged, faulty or landfill-destined clothing might have loose threads, or other pieces of evidence from their past life.
“I’m trying to remember that’s not the main focus, the construction is not as important as the sustainability and the visual.”
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