Fashiontribes.com Fashion Blog - Style, Beauty, Luxury Lifestyle & Shopping: Help the Plight of the Honeybees with Fashion

The honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing en masse, a plight known ominously as Colony Collapse Disorder which bodes most ill for both the environment and the food chain. To bring attention this mysterious and alarming phenomenon, Earnest Sewn Co. is hosting A New Hive. The collaborative installation and visual dialogue opens July 9th at the NYC flagship store (821 Washington St.) with an eye to supporting education about the importance of bees and the art of beekeeping, media, literature, research on sustainable beekeeping, and establishing new beehives in public gardens.

“The rich folklore and natural history of honeybees inspires an ethereal childlike curiosity in individuals,” explains curator Derrick R. Cruz about the event which includes project-specific apiarian inspired sculpture, drawings, couture, limited edition accessories, curated antiques and live specimens from Caroline Priebe of eco-knitwear label ULURU in collaboration with Natalie Chanin from Alabama Chanin, New York’s Derrick R. Cruz designer of the Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons collection, Cory Gomberg of Bureau/Greige, designer Monica Byrne, and artist Ryder E. Robison. “Curiosity leads to contemplation, internalization, and then to genuine concern.”

When designing pieces for this show, Cruz asked the participating designers to think pollinators. “I immediately thought of both my hand knitters in Peru and the hand stitchers of Alabama Chanin," says Uluru's Priebe. "Not only do they work in beautiful harmony much like worker bees but it is my sincerest hope that their work pollinates the psyche of all who experience it, inspiring them to value such examples of craftsmanship and utility.” In the "hyper-real environment" of A New Hive, nature and myth are encouraged to influence science and industry; the hope is that the installation encourages visitors to coexist in balance with nature rather than exploiting it to oblivion, in part by contemplating the importance of the smallest members of our delicate ecology. "After all," notes Cruz, "almost everything we eat is made possible by bees."

A New Hive opens July 9th, with additional participation from Andrew’s Local Honey NY, The Brooklyn Bee Apiary, Green Oasis Beekeepers of New York, Death & Company, Flower Girl, Obscura Antiques and PapaBubble Caramels Artisans.