A Year of Handmade
Yesterday I met a lovely lady who is on a mission; for a whole year she isn’t going to buy any new clothes, she will only make or re-purpose anything she needs. This is no mean feat considering she had never made any clothing before she started! I met her scouring my place of work for vintage fabric and trim to use and afterwards she wrote a blog post about it here. This meeting inspired me to look at my own wardrobe and today I decided to wear only handmade items! I am wearing a jersey tunic made by me, funky floral Antiform leggings and belt handmade in Leeds and my chunky cardigan knitted by my mum!
Check out Morwhenna’s blog here.
My Fave Sustainable Fashion Blogs
Here are some of my favourite blogs and online publications that focus on sustainable fashion to get you started for the new year.
VVVintage:
Founded by the singer VV Brown, VVVintage sell vintage clothing and upcycled designs, supporting up and coming designers and working with Oxfam
http://www.vvvintage.com/about/
Refashionista:
The Refashionista is truly inspiring blog documenting how to create modern and fashionable looks from outdated secondhand clothes.
Style and the Start-up:
This blog regularly has interesting information on ethical and environmental issues and features up and coming designers.
http://styleandthestartup.com/
Ms Wanda’s:
This a website more than a blog, but has regular articles and updates of news from the ethical and eco fashion world. It is run entirely by volunteers and contains interviews, news, style advise and a directory of ethical and eco fashion brands and companies.
Six Magazine:
Six Magazine is a beautiful online fashion magazine, with georgeous shoots, interviews with designers and fashion news, all focusing on sustainable, ethical and slow fashion.
the pattern cutter
A website proving a very interesting discussion over the technical ability of pattern cutting and the relation of that to a fashion designer.
"Between the legions of universities and colleges churning out graduates with a BA in Fashion each year, and the new wave of starlets and media darlings apparently working on their collections in collaboration with bigger names, the term “designer” is more and more a fluid name given to anyone with a bright idea, rather than the skills and technical expertise needed to execute it."
Pop up shop Re:So
I am really excited to announce that I have a new stockist of my collection, Re:So in Southampton. A brand new pop-up shop run by students from Southampton Solent Uni, Re:So stocks a collection of student made and professional clothing, accessories, furniture, homewares and art. The shop has a really cool and quirky vibe, where they say ‘punk collides with decaying elegance’, with recycled industrial fittings, wine bottle lights and a large illustration mural pointing the way in. They stock an ever changing range, with lots of new brands getting involved and a weekly change round of student made collections. I am stocking a range of items there, with some of my new illustration tshirts, tunics, draped jumpers, playsuits and shorts. If you’re in the Southampton area then take a look, the shop is upstairs in the Marlands Shopping Centre.
Find out more about Re:So at so-blog
All images from the Re:So blog
Illustration idea
Here’s a sneak peek at an idea I’ve got for some new illustrated tshirts. I get some amazing compliments for my fashion illustrations so thought that I could put this skill to good use and create a range of sustainable, hand painted tshirts. Here is my first practice, using soft bamboo jersey, which produces beautiful strong colours when dyed, a little bit of fabric paint and some of my home brewed natural dyes. What do you think? I need to make a larger range of colours from my dyes but I think this is a promising start. Let me know what you think, would be lovely to hear some feedback and whether you think this is a good idea!
Masterclass in clashing prints
Take a look at this beautiful new collection from ethical fashion brand Suno and get inspired to wear all your prints at once this autumn! This collection is a true masterclass in how to clash prints and get away with it, with african prints, dots, florals, tweeds, stripes and vintage prints all featured and mixed and matched throughout. Suno is an ethical fashion brand founded in 2008 and based in New York. Their first collection was made using vintage Kenyan fabrics and made predominantly in Kenya. Now their collections are produced ethically in Kenya, India and Peru as well as their hometown, New York. In this new A/W collection now available to buy, they still have hints of their Kenyan roots with bright colours and bold prints but the pieces have a distinctly luxurious feel with lushious fabrics and soft tailoring. My favourite standout pieces are the Cocoon Coat, with tweed panels and leather trimmings, the silk floral Balloon Pants that hit on this seasons bold print trouser trend and the sleeveless sash tie dress in two beautifully uplifting floral prints.
View the collection at SUNO
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All images from http://www.sunony.com
Incredibly honest fashion
Honest by is a new fashion brand launched in January this year by former Creative Director at Hugo Boss, Bruno Pieters. This brand aims to be 100% transparent, so that a customer can see exactly how and where each garment is made. And I mean exactly. Everything from the fabric, buttons and labels have their origins and cost listed, you can see who spun and dyed the fabric, who made the thread that holds it all together, even where they got the safety pin that the swing tag hangs from! It really is quite incredible and so interesting to see all the different companies that come together to make a garment. They also give all the information on costing, how much the garment is sold wholesale and the mark up for retail. It is an amazing idea, allowing the customer to know everything about what they are purchasing and showing that it can be achieved on a larger scale, rather than just in small sustainable shop/studios where you can see the process of production. The fabrics are all organic and eco friendly as well, and Honest by also recruits up and coming designers to create capsule collections. All in all it is a wonderful, eye-opening concept, and on top of all that the collections are cool, fashion forward and unique.
All images and info from www.honestby.com
