Lamont-Doherty climate scientists incorporate their research into fabric and fashion – Lohud

NYACK – Luminaries like Jane Fonda and Joaquin Phoenix drew a lot of attention for their fashion repeats on the Oscars red carpet — re-wearing outfits already seen from past awards shows. But they’ve got nothing on Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Robin Bell and Nicole Davi.

Bell and Davi, along with other climate scientists based at the Palisades campus of Columbia University, have started wearing their work on their sleeves, skirts and scarves, incorporating pictures of their research into fabric and fashion.

“We have to put the lens of climate in everything we do,” said Bell, one of the world’s top experts on polar ice sheets who even has an ice ridge in Antarctica named for her – Bell Buttress.

Bell has donned climate-themed clothing before. But her recent fashion collaboration, along with outfits worn by Davi and other climate scientists, caught some key attention.

The Lamont researchers wore their sustainable creations to the American Geophysical Union awards ceremony in December. Bell is president of the organization.

Bell’s flowing skirt depicted a mountain range under the Antarctic sea. “It’s really upside-down,” Bell said, oddly appropriate for the bottom of the world. 

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Bell worked with Maria Luisa Whittingham, owner of Maria Luisa Boutique in Nyack, to create her climate-themed clothing.

Whittingham described how the project inspired her to create a bias-cut flow to the fabric, to add repurposed crystal beads at different heights like water falling. “This shows how beautiful nature is.”

Davi is a leading researcher in paleoclimatology (figuring out climate during past periods) and dendrochronology (studying tree rings to date events and environment of the past). Her dress was upcycled from an old black dress she had hanging in her closet. She worked with a seamstress to add beading, trim and pleats that incorporate pictures of tree rings printed on fabric.

Davi’s dress honored both science and history: The photos of tree ring samples stemmed from the work of the father of dendrochronology, Andrew E. Douglass.

“We are always trying to communicate about our science,” Davi said. “Fashion is another way to have that conversation.”

Davi said the Lamont scientists’ dresses did just that after the American Geophysical Union awards ceremony in San Francisco. They were chatting with people in the elevator. They talked about their climate-inspired attire, and their work.

“They were so interested in talking with us … and it was handy, we could show them,” Davi said, unfolding the pleats on her dress to display the tree-ring images complete with pencil marks tracking time.

Those business people Davi and other climatologists met in the elevator? They worked for Salesforce, the company whose CEO Marc Benioff championed the Trillion Trees campaign to President Donald Trump.

“Worlds collided,” Davi said. The Salesforce team was clearly interested in the topic, she said. “They couldn’t ask us enough questions.”

Whittingham said she was grateful the dresses created not only beauty but talking points. “I feel so hopeful that people really do get it and care,” she said.

The Nyack store owner found the project personally inspiring as well. “I have to say thank you to Robin,” Whittingham said during a recent visit in her South Broadway store. “This totally opened me up.” She said she continues to work on other sustainable clothing ideas. 

Bell relishes the idea that her Antarctic-inspired clothing can serve as a lesson plan of sorts. 

“What we do is trying to decode the planet,” Bell said of climate science. Displaying that work as a fashion statement makes it relatable and relevant. And, she said, it incorporates a message that “Our future is something we can embrace.”

Twitter: @nancyrockland

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