Heron Preston Reveals His Socially-Conscious Goals & Dream Projects
“I’m not into being preachy—I’m just curious about what the future of design will be given the state of the environment today.”
Fresh off the Paris Fashion Week premiere of his debut collection, Heron Preston sits down with SSENSE to open up about original creations, his plans for the future and more. Doubling down on similar comments made during past interviews, Preston stresses the importance of social consciousness to SSENSE‘s Adam Wray. “When you walked into the showroom in Paris there was this big banner that said “Second To Oil, Textile And Apparel Industry Is The Most Polluting In The World, So Let’s Change That.” That’s the main takeaway,” explains Preston. “I’m in this fashion business—I’m a designer—so I’m actually contributing to that statistic. I’m a part of the problem. So being part of a solution is what I’m really curious about … I’m not into being preachy—I’m just curious about what the future of design will be given the state of the environment today.”
Later in the interview, Preston went into greater detail about his thoughts on designers having the “power” to move society in different directions:
“Design and art are very powerful voices today. That’s why I think the project with the Department of Sanitation was a success, because they hooked up with a fashion designer to talk about sending zero waste to landfills by 2030. That’s what that whole project was for, and now people are paying attention because it was my voice. Do designers have a responsibility? Maybe, maybe not. But they do have the fucking power to inspire change, for sure. I hit my 30s, and I had never really cared about getting involved in anything. I was just living life, having fun, doing cool things with no purpose behind them. And one day I was like, “Wait a minute, I’m an official adult now.” What can I do to be more responsible with the voice I have? When designers or artists start to challenge themselves, and figure out what they care about, and realize how powerful their voices are, then they might start to feel like they have a responsibility.”
The controversial designer also opened up about wanting to work with NASA as his “dream project,” what he learned from Nike’s corporate culture and staying on top of “what’s next” in trends. You can check out Heron Preston’s entire interview with SSENSE here.
