Fashion’s Sustainability Problem as Seen Through a Hopeful New Lens

In a world increasingly saturated with fast fashion and fleeting trends, a new exhibition asks: What if beauty could be both bold and responsible?

From April 24–27, 2025, the Leica Store & Gallery in New York City’s Meatpacking District will host RE:FRAME, a vivid, thought-provoking photography exhibition crated in collaboration by the legendary fashion photographer Enrique Badulescu and Marina Testino, a sustainability advocate whose art campaigns have long challenged the fashion world to take a deeper look at its values. Timed to coincide with Earth Month, RE:FRAME is more than a gallery show—it’s a call to action.

Inspired by the textile waste crisis in Chile’s Atacama Desert, where over 39,000 tons of discarded clothing—many of the garments brand new and never worn—are dumped every year, the exhibition challenges visitors to rethink their relationship with fashion. “This exhibition began with a single, striking image: a mountain of clothing waste in Chile’s Atacama Desert—so vast it can be seen from space,” Testino explains. “It’s a haunting symbol of fashion’s disconnect: beauty without responsibility, abundance without intention.”

But instead of presenting the crisis as a lament, RE:FRAME transforms it into a creative catalyst, showcasing a series of high-impact photographs that use the visual language of fashion to critique its consequences. Styled by creative director Romina Herrera Malatesta, the images feature models wearing sculptural pieces made from textile waste—torn shirts, crumpled packaging, even plastic bottles—as well as pieces from sustainably-minded designers like Gabriela Hearst, Stella McCartney, and Tara Babylon. “It’s an invitation to pause, reflect, and reframe the way we produce, consume, and value clothing,” Testino shares of the show. “Because if fashion can shape culture, identity, and dreams, then it also holds the power to shape solutions.”

When it came to choosing a photographer for the project, Badulescu felt like a natural fit. A longtime Leica user, he shot the entire series using the German brand’s cameras. RE:FRAME marks his return not just to fashion photography—he has captured everyone from Kate Moss to David Bowie—but to storytelling with a purpose. After taking time away from the industry to raise his daughter, his creative reentry feels personal.

“He’s always had a deep sensitivity to his surroundings,” Testino says of her collaborator. “He built one of the first homes in Tulum, long before it became what it is today, and he did it in a way that respected the land, the community, and the wild. That same sensitivity translates into his creative work.” His signature boldness—colors that burn bright, light that plays like music—brings a sense of movement and emotion to each frame. “He understood that this wasn’t just a fashion shoot—it was a conversation starter.”

That conversation is as much about changing perceptions as it is about changing practices. Too often, sustainable fashion is presented as bland, joyless, or minimalist—an aesthetic stripped of the fantasy and freedom that make getting dressed feel personal and fun. But RE:FRAME insists that sustainability can indeed be vibrant. “We have to rebrand it,” Testino says. “Sustainability doesn’t mean giving up color, luxury, or style. It means redefining them. And when we do that well, we shift perception—and from there, we shift behavior.”

Testino has been working on that redefinition for years, through campaigns like #OneDressToImpress and #YellowLikeALemon, which use social media, public installations, and video to challenge fast fashion culture. Her framework, what she calls the “4 S’s of Sustainable Fashion”—Simplify, Share, Sustainably Sourced, and Secondhand—offers an accessible and pragmatic path forward.

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions, and much of that impact is hidden—buried in supply chains, buried in landfills, buried in deserts like Atacama. “If a T-shirt costs $10 and the industry markup is about 4x,” Testino explains, “that means it costs around $2.50 to make. So how much do you think the person sewing it was actually paid?”

With RE:FRAME, these questions aren’t posed didactically—they’re embedded in the images. The exhibition isn’t about shame or guilt. “It’s about awareness, expression, and action,” Testino says. “We’re showing that fashion can still be beautiful, but also conscious. It can inspire, without costing the planet.”

As the world contends with political gridlock and backsliding on climate commitments, Testino believes the power to change doesn’t only lie with policy—it lies with culture. “Change doesn’t only come from governments,” she says. “It starts with people, with community, with what we wear, what we support, how we show up in our everyday lives.” She points to photography as a particularly potent medium for this kind of change: “It stops time. It makes you feel before you even think. And when you see textile waste styled, transformed, and reimagined, it hits differently.”

You Might Also Like

• 4 Investment-Worthy Skincare Finds From Sephora

• The 17 Best Retinol Creams Worth Adding to Your Skin Care Routine