Alessandro Michele Official As Creative Director at Valentino Couture
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Is Mycelium the Connective Tissue of Nature's Global Communication Network?
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In the words of The National Forest Foundation: "Taken together, myecelium composes what’s called a “mycorrhizal network,” which connects individual plants together to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals. German forester Peter Wohlleben dubbed this symbiotic network affecting about 90 percent of plant life on the planet -- including trees -- the “woodwide web.” It is through the mycelium that trees 'communicate.'
Botanists and mycologists have understood this grand symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants for over a century. But positing the existence of a linguistic communication system founded on 'intelligence' is another subject entirely.
Read MoreRabbits Are Rising for Mushroom Lovers
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With the Gregorian calendar’s New Year’s Day upon us in hours, and the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Rabbit ringing in the Lunar New Year on January 22, 2023, Gucci releases a beautiful and without controversy campaign that celebrates two global cultures and also Easter 2023, coming on April 9.
Thank you to perhaps the most soulful creative in fashion — Alessandro Michele, formerly of Gucci. I am certainly one of the people who only recently expressed my understanding of your vision and perspective.
Read MoreStella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Inspires a World of Fungi Research
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Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Inspires a World of Fungi Research AOC Muse
Designer Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022 fashion show was inspired by mushrooms. Quite frankly, life on Anne of Carversville has not been the same since I watched on Netflix the 2019 ‘Fantastic Fungi’ documentary that prompted McCartney’s deep dive into the world of mushrooms.
Mushrooms are the visible part of an organism called mycelium, and they are not plants, even though they have a plantlike form. Even more important, until recently, fungi have been part of the botanist’s domain, and they were classified — incorrectly — as plants, writes the American Society For Microbiology in an article Three Reasons Fungi Are Not Plants.
Fungi and Africans: Both Misclassified and Misunderstood by Carl Linnaeus
Fungi were classified as plants for centuries due to an axiom attributed to Carl Linnaeus: “Plants grow and live; Animals grow, live and feel.”
Linnaeus’ delineation of plant activity seems inadequate and overly simplistic, given scientific research on the way in which plants experience sentient activity. We know that plants sense danger and then communicate their information to other plants, seeming to contradict Linnaeus’ assertions around plant life. NOT knowing his connection to racial categorization — I muttered to myself “Oh, right. In the same way some white dudes classified people of color as lesser-quality humans, they managed to ignore the profound distinctive attributes of fungi and mushrooms by calling them plants.”
Eureka! Linnaeus was deeply involved in the science of racial categorization. Rather than taking a sharp right turn in this post, AOC will stay with the fact that fungi can’t produce oxygen via photosynthesis, a core attribute of the plant kingdom.
It’s interesting when fashion, mushrooms and the civil rights movement come together in a single, cohesive thought pattern. Then again, the world of fungi is so primordial and pervasive in our biosphere that mycelium — the network of fungal threads or hyphae that produces the mushrooms we eat — strikes us as the very root of existence.
Stella McCartney is leading the way in working on the development of luxury leather made from mushrooms. The designer wants all of us to become curious about mushrooms, and I am now her dedicated disciple at AOC.
Stella McCartney's Spring 2022 Collection Hugs Shroom Power Sustainability
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Designer Stella McCartney’s Spring 2022 fashion show happened under the Brutalist concrete cover of the Espace Niemeyer. It turns out, writes the New York Times, that the space resembles a Martian bio-dome. Mushrooms are Stella’s muse for not only her spring 2022 collection, but in her deeply-held commitment to sustainability and living with constant reverence for our biosphere.
The Times’ Vanessa Friedman is not entirely fair — or her memory failed her — when she wrote that sustainability finally made its full-throated entrance in the spring 2022 shows with Stella McCartney’s collection.
Friedman wrote: “Well, hello sustainability. Wondering when you’d show up.” The fashion industry expert must have slept through Gabriela Hearst’ Chloé show: Gabriela Hearst Takes Chloé to Bugatti Speed in Redefining Purpose for Luxury Brands
Within this creative atmosphere, the fashion crowd heard the voice of American mycologist and entrepreneur Paul Stamets, who is considered an intellectual and industry leader in everything associated with fungi. In only a few seconds, Stamets summed up the future of fashion with his admonition: “In fashion, mushrooms are the future.”
Stella McCartney has been deeply committed to Bolt’Threads’ mycelium leather called Mylo, for the last few years and she shared her first Mylo production — a treasure trove of only 100 little black leather crescent handbags.
Sixty-three percent of the materials in the spring 2022 collection are eco-friendly, according to Stella McCartney’s press kit. Gabriela Hearst earlier published the stat of 58 percent of Chloé made from lower-impact materials, compared to 40 percent of the winter collection.
AOC’s point is not to pit the two brands against each other in any way, but to celebrate them for their high goddess perches of working diligently to protect the environment. It would be great for all luxury brands to issue their scorecard on sustainability in the collection as part of their press kits.
We’re not talking how many trees were planted by the brand, but the garments themselves: what styles support our global, ecological biosystem?
Stella McCartney’s spring 2022 silhouettes were roomy as well as skinny and curve hugging. The influence of athleisure infused the collection with swagger and modern confidence. Mushrooms appeared in prints. Of great import to McCartney was the philosophy behind her designs:
“For me, the concept was about transitioning. I wanted to project what the future could be like for the house of Stella — a lightness of touch and a slightly more tender approach, but still mixing sporty and masculine pieces. I was asking myself, ‘What’s the breath of fresh air that I feel, and what are we looking toward in the fashion industry?'” the designer said.
Stella was highly impacted by the Netflix documentary ‘Fantastic Fungi’, and it’s still showing on Netflix. AOC was been following the topic of mushrooms for several years — including Stella’s work with Bolt Thread’s innovative mycelium leather Mylo™️.
Anticipating that you might become confused about more than one documentary about mushrooms on Netflix, we’ve included two for you and we will be watching both. Stella’s source of information is above, and it debuted earlier than the second one below. There may be more Netflix content on mushrooms, because AOC has just discovered at least three TED Talks.
I’ve been looking for a deep dive that touches many intellectual and planet-friendly pulse points. Stella sold me with her spring collection. Mushrooms it will be.
AOC closes out our mushroom world discussion with the video of Stella McCartney’s Summer 2022 show. The impromptu photography of spring designs from the show is worth the visit to Stella’s website.
As for blue mushrooms, they do exist in nature, and for now we don’t have the mental wits to explain blue mushrooms to you. An explanation IS forthcoming. ~ Anne
