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Cornish Grad Behind Little Brown Dress Project

Posted Jul 17, 2006

Alex Martin, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornish College of the Arts in 1996, is a dancer, style maven, costume designer, and general lover of clothing and fashion.  But at the conclusion of her latest creative endeavor, Little Brown Dress, she finds herself in an unexpected role at the center of an international conversation taking place about consumerism.

Her message is clear: it’s time to reject the obsession our culture has on the defining power of fashion and the sweat shop supporting industry it benefits and live with less. Alex began her fashion de tox program on July 7, 2005 when she stepped into a little brown dress that she designed herself. For the next 365 days she wore the same outfit every day and kept a photo journal of the project on her website, littlebrowndress.com.

“I never realized that refusing to change my outfit would push so many buttons,” she explains. ” But I think people have been aching to talk about commercialism and my project has inspired this dialogue.”  Martin has received national press for the project and has been invited back for a second appearance on the Today show.  She has received hundreds of e-mails from people all over the world who have been captivated by her project and what it represents.

Martin was mildly influenced by the “Grey Sweatsuit Revolution” where activists attended social events wearing unflattering sweatsuits as a statement against fashion trends and dictums. Her project challenges each of us to look inside our walk-in closets and ask ourselves how much is too much?  “I can certainly change, evolve, grow and learn as a person - in magnificent and visible ways - without changing my clothes,” says Martin, who is motivated by her conviction that there are citizens of the third-world, many of whom don’t have a change of clothes, who get along just fine. “We’re all making choices with our pocketbooks everyday - and not buying the latest fashion trends gives us this amazing power to take ourselves out of the loop.”

The Little Brown Dress project concluded on July 7, 2006. Hundreds attended a party to commemorate the event and her success. It was here that that the Little Brown Dress was stolen. “Someone has taken my project and recycled it into their own project, so I’m ok with this. I guess I kind of asked for it.”

Recycling is, after all, at the center of Martin’s next project of wearing only clothes she has made herself out of recycled materials. “I’m hooked on this new way of living in an intentional wardrobe.”

Martin’s imperturbable character has contributed significant charm to her Little Brown Dress project, and hopefully her next project will be equally infectious. 

Alex Martin is the choreographer and co-artistic director of BetterBiscuitDance, a Seattle-based performance company, and co-founder of Open Flight Studio. Additionally, she has her own event planning business, Jubilee Event Engineers. For more details of the Little Brown Dress project, including daily photos and journal, see www.littlebrowndress.com.

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