October 2008
This year's London Fashion Week reveals just how far ethical chic has come, enthuses Tamasin Doe
It was in 2000 when the world's passion for clothes and all things fashion topped $1 trillion. At the time barely a drop of that vast cash pool was spent on ethically produced fashion. Fast-forward the best part of a decade and see just how attitudes have changed and designers turned their minds to the business of fashion that's both green and fair.
On the lawns of the Natural History Museum, London Fashion Week saw several of them showcase their new spring collections at Estethica, an exhibition exclusively for labels that can fulfil the criteria for ethical production and sourcing. Considered to be the hottest-yet collection of labels, established brands Ciel and Noir were shown alongside 15 newbies, making Estethica a genuine powerhouse of ethical thinking.
G=9.8 makes sleek, sporty lingerie from a fibre produced from white pines grown sustainably for the purpose (it has an incredibly velvety, soft texture). From California, the spiritual home of organic thinking, Deborah Lindquist creates clothes for Los Angeles' many social queens - short, sassy skirts and tailored sheath dresses for lunching with film moguls. Another overseas visitor, Lunar, from South Africa, melds time-honoured African crafts with a luxurious couture feel, to create exquisite menswear and womenswear.
Within the wider mix, four new labels were shown under the banner of the Ethical Fashion Forum, each with something fresh to offer. Amoosi is a designer collective producing couture and limited edition pieces from reclaimed and vintage fabrics. Rani Jones offers sleek, modern fashion with an emphasis on luxury fabrics. Julia Smith, meanwhile, has chic, upscale clothes with a catwalk feel. Not forgetting Lowie - cute, fresh and feminine with a vintage heart.
London Fashion Week also saw the grand finale of Make Your Mark in Fashion at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden. Both a mentoring scheme and a competition, the Government-sponsored project seeks to kick-start young businesses. Three designers - Berrie, Miawi (pictured left) and RAJE - beat 300 other labels and teams to win a place in the final, as well as the wisdom of the fashion brands Enamore, Junky Styling and The Hemp Trading Company. All three have won valuable selling space on Adili.com, one of the fashion industry's biggest ethical retailers.
But it was Miawi for Junky Styling which walked away with the £3,000 first prize for its original idea of sourcing second hand clothing from Malawi and traditional textiles from the region to create new fashion.
On the catwalk, WildlifeWorks continues to confound every expectation of how an ethically sound fashion collection should look. The company's purpose is to create great fashion and at the same time preserve Kenyan wildlife by providing a sustainable economic base for a community that could otherwise come into conflict with it. For summer, the mood is a romantic mix of 1920s flapper style, layers of sheer ruffles and a few heady disco notes thrown in with maxi lengths and a palazzo jumpsuit.
Was London's fashion week a good one for ethical chic? A T-shirt slogan spotted on a Chloe Sevigny lookalike at Estethica has an answer: 'Green & Gorgeous.'
Tamasin Doe is an author and fashion journalist
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