Rising Designer David Weksler Makes a Statement With Sustainability
The Central Saint Martins graduate showed his joyous collection, titled “20 Shirt Experiment,” in Jaffa this week.
The up-and-coming designer David Weksler first caught my eye when he showed his MA collection with Central Saint Martins last season. His models from that show, whose faces were covered by multicolored, printed masks, wore artfully tattered and deconstructed garments done in a range of textiles and colors—and worn with fuzzy boots. The mix was a completely new breath of fresh air I’d never seen before. So when I heard Weksler would be unveiling a new collection, (which he considers an effectively season-less “all seasons” collection,) I was, well, excited is an understatement.
And Weksler’s latest work did not disappoint. He showed the collection, titled “20 Shirt Experiment” on October 20th, in Jaffa, Israel, using the al fresco Shaffa Bar as his runway. All staff—including the waiters, bartenders, and chefs—wore the collection, and were very much a part of the show. The garments are entirely upcycled, genderless, naturally-dyed, and handmade for every gender identity and size. Weksler’s collection originally started as a sustainable experiment and was transformed into quite a forward-thinking runway show.
The designer has experimented with piecing together clothing since his days at Central Saint Martins, but he is now making a name for himself while doing it. 20 Shirt Experiment conjoins various mass-produced, donated apparel into upcycled, thoughtfully put-together looks, each of which is convertible and can be molded into different styles—all the clothes can be buttoned and tied together. Weksler says he used natural onion dye for some of the garments, while others he taped and painted by hand.
A look from David Weksler’s 20 Shirt Experiment collection.
This collection was created with continuous evolution in mind. In the future, the designer sees the pieces being repurposed into a whole new for later collections—furthering his message of sustainability, ecological awareness, and using fashion for good. In fact, Weksler is not only sending a message, he is acting on it—come spring 2022, the designer will launch Jaffa Fashion Week, featuring a a lineup of events and shows of sustainable and socially conscious fashion designers from the area. In my eyes, this is what the world needs from the younger, rising design generation.
