Conscious Fashion

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Sustainability and all that stuff

Sustainability and all that stuff

It’s complicated - I do not have the answers, but my hope in writing my column as we close secondhand September is at least to explore some solutions and lay out some of the current debates about sustainability, particularly in fashion.  Responsibility It can be...

Salvo Fest of imperfect beauty

Salvo Fest of imperfect beauty

Save the dates 16 - 19 June 2021 because the original architectural salvage fair has found its new home, with the best bits of the virtual and real world to toast Salvo’s 30th Pearl Anniversary. Seven years ago I hadn’t even stepped foot inside a salvage yard, so my...

ethazon

ethazon

Wearing accessories from my new carbon conscious label ethazon When Beck and I first came together to create ethazon we desired an eco fashion place for people to dress for the world they want. Fast forward two years and we have seen a flurry of fashion trying to...

Buying vintage bins in the time of Coronavirus

Buying vintage bins in the time of Coronavirus

I am not sure where “bins” the abbreviation for glasses comes from, but considering my need for increasingly telescopic lenses it seems appropriate to refer to them as my binoculars.  I enjoy the time when it comes to choose new glasses, well new old glasses as I...

Hot Hot Hot! Reclaimed Woman

Hot Hot Hot! Reclaimed Woman

How will fashion become fashionable again after lockdown? We are waiting to see if the expected shift to more conscious shopping will be accelerated following the reflection time that beings, brands and businesses have had to take in the bigger picture. Categories...

wfh aka Wild From Home

wfh aka Wild From Home

Week three wfh and I am ready to be wild from home. The highlight of my weekend was singing Nirvana's Teen Spirit whilst dancing around the lounge with my husband. "You call that wild? You need to get out more" I hear you say. Yes, I do. And one day I will. We all...

Guide to the dear green place Glasgow

Guide to the dear green place Glasgow

Did you know that Glasgow rates highly for green spaces per capita with 90s parks and gardens? The clue is in the city's nickname "Dear Green Place", which is derived from the Gaelic word for Glasgow. Other glorious green places are uncovered as you chat to people...

How to allure your eco side in Edinburgh

How to allure your eco side in Edinburgh

There is nothing like a good research session to get one in the mood. I like to seek out the eco fashion and decor offering when I visit a new city, but hopefully I can skip you to the main event with my shares from Edinburgh.  Sustainable secondhand usually...

Party dressing with ideas from Ardingly

Party dressing with ideas from Ardingly

I won’t try to dress-up the fact that this is consumption season and this week sets the spending scene with a bombardment of Black Friday offers.  Whether you are wrapping up your 2019 projects, buying gifts, or figuring out how to dress yourself and your home...

Conscious Commuter

Conscious Commuter

Ensure you get space on the handrail during a crowded commute with this voluminous sleeved button-down by Amour Vert [If you're in the US or Canada it’s worth noting that it recently teamed up with the online thrift store thredUP, so you can close the loop on your...

Ready-to-wake: Should fashion weeks be cancelled?

Ready-to-wake: Should fashion weeks be cancelled?

Upcycled kitten heels by Ancuta Sarca at London Fashion Week “Wake me up when September ends” are words I've heard from editors doing the four fashion capitals in less than four weeks.   Our eyes are closed to the emergency according to Extinction Rebellion, the...

Something borrowed

Something borrowed

Earth Day seems appropriate to talk about something borrowed. The trousers covering my tush and blouse on my back [leased from Laura Ironside] and of course the earth are all borrowed. Fashion is just one piece of the sustainable development pie, but today also marks...

Seasonal vegging & voguing

Seasonal vegging & voguing

This edit sums up my mood for the month ahead. It's that time of year when your pinkie ring should give you super powers and you can cloak your face and your body in pillows [when not showing off that you're capable of dancing in white whilst eating cranberry...

Designing a happy wardrobe

Designing a happy wardrobe

I didn’t see myself squeezing into another capsule challenge so soon - having spent 6 of the coldest weeks in just 6 items of clothes for Labour Behind the Label at the start of the year - but this was too good to resist… 10 items, 10 days, easy right? Ah, but this...

Guilt Tripping

Guilt Tripping

Having recently calculated that the renovation of my flat is 4x more sustainable than one planet living, I could be feeling smug, but with two flights in the pipeline next month I am less carbon footprint proud.  Let me explain… One Planet Living is a framework...

Conscious Consumer

Conscious Consumer

  Encaustic tiles The Vintage Floor Tile Company Artelli Canasto bag from Rev En Vert Organic cotton shirt & organic denim skirt both War & Drobe   [If you're in London get yourself down to War & Drobe at 31 Lamb's Conduit Street from 14th - 27th May...

Sustainability in the City

Sustainability in the City

I know Sex in the City has been relegated to box-set territory but sometimes I refer to my flat as sustainability in the city, because like Carrie Bradshaw, I keep sweaters where my stove would have been. Reflecting on the moment I decided to turn my kitchen into my...

Six Items Challenge : Little White Dress

Six Items Challenge : Little White Dress

It seems appropriate to end my Six Items Challenge for Labour Behind the Label in the little white dress I started in.  I wore my white Reformation dress to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary and it got me thinking... I have too many clothes and although I am...

Six Items Challenge : Day 33 is Green Day

Six Items Challenge : Day 33 is Green Day

My Six Items Challenge made packing simple for a last minute work trip to Madrid.  I got out the Gabriele Vintage green dress - a symbol of fresh starts and progress, as we think of the green light as go. This Maison Bengal bag I got from Tidy Street general store in...

The Ned and TED Talks

The Ned and TED Talks

The respectfully renovated Portland Stone building on Poultry Street, The Ned was the perfect setting to speak about how my reclaimed renovation resulted in me wearing the same six items of clothes for six weeks. There's been a bit of friendly competition in our...

Six Items Challenge : Made it to March

Six Items Challenge : Made it to March

There may be snow on the ground, but spring starts in March and I'm thinking about a sari. I have that bought something new feeling - when you want to wear it straight away and never be parted - but my Six Items Challenge, which continues for most of the month means I...

Six Items Challenge : Day 15

Six Items Challenge : Day 15

I definitely didn't expect snow when I picked mainly dresses for the six items to see me through six weeks. ©Photograph courtesy of PHIPPS - a newly launched menswear brand founded on the principles of respect and curiosity for the natural world.  They're exploring...

Six Items Challenge : Two weeks in

Six Items Challenge : Two weeks in

Two weeks into six weeks wearing the same six items of clothes, I am tongue twisting and definitely compensating with shoes. On a side note, these 1940s pigeon holes make perfect shoe storage   (complete with drawn-on letters, this piece was reclaimed from the post...

Six Items Challenge : Day 11 and 12

Six Items Challenge : Day 11 and 12

On arrival in Brighton yesterday I was confronted by my ten year old self.  Two girls dressed almost identically were leaving the train station - one had a mini pink backpack (like the one I had from Tammy Girl) and both were wearing skater sneakers.  They linked arms...

Six Items Challenge : Day 10

Six Items Challenge : Day 10

Wearing a choker made of surplus sofa fabric on my sofa upholstered in surplus bus seat fabric, contemplating second life in my deadstock Persol specs from the 1980s. Choker from beautiful inside and out PETA-approved Vegan brand Noumenon Persol spectacles from Spex...

Six Items Challenge : Day 9

Six Items Challenge : Day 9

Charity shops are name-checked by anyone advocating for sustainable and ethical fashion, so I can't ignore the scandal that recently broke about Oxfam - a charity that I donate to and shop from regularly (where I bought this Longchamp bag). Of course Oxfam is not the...

Six Items Challenge : Day 6

Six Items Challenge : Day 6

Wore my M-24 backpack made of used truck tarpaulin to the Designer Showrooms today.  Fashion week has a growing number of sustainable brands and stands - one being The Sustainable Angle, a not for profit organisation dedicated to projects that promote sustainable...

Six Items Challenge : Day 5

Six Items Challenge : Day 5

I met a fashion journalist from Spain the other day and we joked that even if it means crossing the road, stopping to soak up every moment of sunshine is essential to make it through the grey months in London. Fashion week might be all about autumn winter collections,...

Six Items Challenge : Day 4

Six Items Challenge : Day 4

My days are all messed up.  It's the second day of fashion week, but it is in fact the weekend, so Saturday feels like Tuesday, but it's also masquerading  as Thursday - on this, the forth day of my challenge. Despite setting my alarm for 7am on a Saturday, I knew...

Six Items Challenge : Day 3

Six Items Challenge : Day 3

It may be day three of my challenge for Labour Behind the Label, but it really only got challenging today on the first day of London Fashion Week. For some reason it felt like my first day at school.  Perhaps it's because when you're a kid you get away with wearing...

Six Items Challenge : Day 1

Six Items Challenge : Day 1

©IWM (D 14826) Lent hasn't fallen on Valentine's Day since 1945.  Today shiny heart shaped gifts and ash crosses collide, as I start my Six Items Challenge. I pledged to only wear six items of clothing for the next six weeks in support of Labour Behind the Label, a...

My fashion fast to fight fast fashion

My fashion fast to fight fast fashion

I have pledged to only wear six items of clothing for six weeks - starting just before London Fashion Week   If it takes a collective to make a fashion, it takes collective action to end fashion abuse. The Six Items Challenge is a campaign created by Labour...

Conscious Christmas Gifts

Conscious Christmas Gifts

Fashion Revolution fanzine #001:Money Fashion Power  pages of poetry, illustration, photography, graphic design and editorials that explore the hidden stories behind our clothes green rose earrings by Gung Ho from Ethical Collection nothing more, nothing less t-shirt...

Wo-man Reclaimed Woman

Wo-man Reclaimed Woman

Chinti and Parker  /  Westland London I just watched the nineties classic So I Married an Axe Murderer for the first time.  If you haven't seen it, I urge you to check out Mike Myers' beatnik poetry performance from the film.  Hence why my...

Ethical Collection x Reclaimed Woman

Ethical Collection x Reclaimed Woman

Part free spirit, part dedicated fan of fashion, 10 years in the industry has ingrained particular months (before fashion weeks) when I feel the clothes in my wardrobe aren’t cutting it.  Coupled with 10 consecutive grey London days and counting, I know I am not alone...

Conscious Consumer

Conscious Consumer

Jumpsuits aren't always the smartest move when it comes to travelling, but I always seem to choose one because the chic/comfort balance outweighs the likely woman v jumpsuit wrestling in the loo. This People Tree collaboration with the V&A is wonderful.  The Tulip...

Conscious Consumer

Conscious Consumer

  Carla Colour Lind recycled sunglasses from Ethical Collection Amour jute tote The Jacksons  also check for the jute totes on Ethical Collection & at their Portobello pop-up shop open until 30th July 2017. They have a delicious selection of Carla Colour...

Conscious Consumer

Conscious Consumer

I couldn't resist Randy's Reproductive System Sweater from Rachel Antonoff for World Population Day with a portion of the proceeds being donated to Planned Parenthood (even if it is harder to get your hands on in the UK) Barocco handcraft pieces like these Wishbone...

Divorce lawyer to dealer in rare Dior

Divorce lawyer to dealer in rare Dior

Julia Jones put the Jones in Mary Jones Vintage, a divorce lawyer that sources and sells vintage fashion.  Based in Liverpool, stocked in Liberty of London and preparing for her first Salvo Fair in my Fair Fashion pop up, which opens in Henley tomorrow (23rd until the...

Greek green living in Athens

Greek green living in Athens

I just visited Athens, city of marble for the first time.  The Greek side of my husband's family visited us in London before we all headed to a big fat Greek wedding in Athens. I'll keep references to that film brief, but it's been a running joke since my first dinner...

Woman, Reclaimed

Woman, Reclaimed

One year ago I left my corporate fashion job to follow a more conscious life. My job gave me pleasure and pain, and enabled me to buy my first home in west London. Like a secret diary, I started to blog about my journey into a more sustainable existence (shoe...