The Art Of Mending Clothes: Interview With Kate Sekules

1. Name?
Kate Sekules.

2. Occupation?
Writer/ Historian/ Mender.

3. Currently reside?
Brooklyn NY.

4. Where did you learn to sew?
From my mother as a child in London.

Porthole mends d&g sweater_photo credit Cathy Crawford.

5. Do you like thrift shopping? If so, what are some of your favorite stores?
I live for thrift shopping. Beacon’s Closet is my church. Most true thrift these days is tragic piles of so-called Fast Fashion (I call it Big Fashion). The hunt is harder now, and the good stuff is found in places that are at least semi-curated. In England I love the specialist charity shops: Fara, Mary’s Living and Giving, Sue Ryder Retro. On the West Coast, I love Wasteland.

6. How did you get into reconstructing vintage clothing?
It’s not so much reconstructing as mending, though extreme mending definitely counts as a remake. I’ve always worn old clothes and vintage (nothing but old stuff for the past 10+ years), and it needs to be maintained. That’s how it started: just from need. Then it evolved into not-boring mending, which adds to the style.

7. Do you feel this is a lost art form?
It was, but there is a huge resurgence happening right now. I’ve watched it go from obscure niche to major trend. This is worrying because trends pass.

Ooops America pit mend_photo credit Cathy Crawford.

8. What are some refurbishing items that is in high demand for you?
I don’t take commissions, though I do mend for friends. It’s always moth-damaged sweaters that most need the love.

9. Tell me about the projects you’re most proud of and why?
I have special love for pieces that were so wrecked they looked hopeless. Saving something given up for dead is a rush. They end up even more special because they’re totally reborn. I’ve done loads: a super-soft handknit cashmere that was literally eaten by mice, a shredded silk shantung Paul Smith jacket, and several sweaters that suffered extreme moth attack.

10. What’s your creative process?
I sit with the garment and let the damage suggest ideas. I decide which technique will work, and then spend ages picking from my huge collection of vintage/thrifted threads and fabrics. I only plan as much as is necessary. I like to let a mend emerge, making it up as I go, color on color. It’s boring when it’s all logical; it has to be extemporary. There’s often a hot mess stage and then I apply the “more is more” rule and just keep going.

11. Who is your biggest influence?
When I thought I’d invented the idea of visible mending about five years ago, I discovered a little scene already existed in England, with Tom of Holland as the sort of figurehead. He’s a modest genius who started by contrast-darning a pair of socks he’d knitted. I consider him the founder of the movement. Although he doesn’t. He admits to starting the #visiblemending tag on IG.

12. Do you feel the need to know the history of fashion to work with vintage and refurbished clothing. If so, how did you learn this? And, why is it important?
It’s important because we need to value and tend the old pieces before it’s too late. I worry that the remaining vintage out there is being gradually destroyed by being just a commodity. It’s useful to know which garments are special, iconic, important, museum worthy; I wouldn’t visibly mend them. They deserve conservation techniques. I started to learn fashion history as a kid, by just being curious about the things I picked up for 20p at Portobello market, then reading books (there was very much no internet). A lifelong obsession led me to study it formally.

Eye Eyelet Burberrys cardi_photo credit Cathy Crawford.

13. Tell us about your current book, MEND!?
It’s not out until September (Penguin books). The subtitle is “A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto”, which tells you what to expect. It’s a very pretty, extremely illustrated how-to of visible mending, with 34 techniques broken down, named and explained (including a periodic table of mend elements). It’s also the secret history of mending, the story of how fashion got so completely effed up, profiles of inspiring menders, and a vision of a good future for fashion, where we all have fun again, quit exploiting people, and spend way less for a way better style.

14. How do your services work? What if someone wants to keep an item but is not sure what to do? Do you offer virtual service consultations?
That’s a good idea! I’m relaunching my site visiblemending. It has been delayed because the designer got COVID-19. There’ll be loads of resources there, including the first and only Menders Directory, where you can find your ideal mender. However, it is best is to do it yourself, so my mission is to teach/inspire. You know, a consultancy service really is extra—I’ll work on that.

15. Have you always been a preacher of sustainability and, if so, how did you get into this?
I wrote “The Dilemma of Dressing Green,” which appeared in Clothes Show magazine in 1992 (when we were not even doing so bad), so, yes, I am kind of a preacher. I’ve been involved with the Ethical Fashion Forum and its new platform CO (https://www.commonobjective.co/) for years. I’m a bit of a lone wolf and not particularly involved with the movement, such as it is. In 2009, I founded Refashioner, I founded Refashioner, the first personal closet sharing/trading site (& the only one where you had to tell the garment’s story). I believe we should provide more fun fashion ideas to follow rather than just beat people over the head lecturing on what we’re doing wrong. I’m trying to get louder and more fun.

16. Tell us about being accepted into the Bard Graduate Center for a PhD. Why do you feel this is so significant?
Having entered academia a bit late in life, I found nobody else is writing the history of mending (though several are working on contemporary issues). Now I’m on a mission to create a formal framework for that study, asap. BGC is this nation’s premier institution for Material Culture research. It’s fantastic they see the value in this work and seem to believe in my proposals for it. https://www.bgc.bard.edu/

Greasytee loomstate chicken spatter tee.

17. Do you have an events calendar for the readers to follow?
Sorry, not yet. There will be one on the new site. For now, I tend to announce on Instagram.

18. Motto in life?
Be Here Now. (Thanks Ram Dass)