The Annual Dilemma

Around this time every year I begin to get excited when considering my most treasured annual purchase: The winter boot.

As a teenager, Faith served me well. A Kurt Geiger sale pair were a great early purchase and have weared well. A couple of pairs have been passed on to me from my mum, and a couple of others have been found in discreet and quiet beautiful independent shoe shops around the country.

However, in the years since my sustainable fashion awakening - and understanding the need in our society to 'vote with my wallet' - no matter how great the look or label, if it's not been Terra Plana I have not bought it. Unfortunately, my black flat Terra Plana FAVOURITES that once looked like this...

Terra Plana Wood mid Cald Length Boot

Are now (despite much re-heeling) in a state of disrepair: broken zip, chunk missing from the back of both heels, buckle fallen off the top strap, threads coming loose. Looking at how they used to be, I would be more than happy to spend the same amount of money for a new pair on getting these fixed! Anyway, I don't think Terra Plana currently have a send back and renew policy - so my journey to replace them continues.

After lusting after the Terra Plana Lauren Boot (below) for way too long, by the time I had saved up to buy it, it had vanished from the shelves. These lovelies now exist only in virtual shopping areas in a size 3 or in yellow. (I'm a size 5 Terra Plana, if you're reading this and have a few spare black pairs).

Terra Plana Lauren Boot

I feel that the next part of the story is all due to the slight loss I feel by not owning a pair of the Lauren Boots. I have no ankle boots, and although I am searching for flat, black, practical but different, wearable but interesting (obviously responsibly sourced and manufactured) the look of the Lauren boot has always stayed with me in a search for something similar to take its place.

So, finding myself exploring the new Shoe Galleries in Selfridges on Saturday (along with a million other people) I was not impressed with any of the black flat boots I tried on. I was about to leave, wondering how much it would really cost to repair my favourite yet sadly unwearable original Terra Plana pair, when I walked past these black suede Siri boots in All Saints...

All Saints Black Suede Siri Boot

See a resemblance to the Lauren's? I know All Saints isn't at the cutting edge of innovative sustainable design, but they would be a good investment, surely?...I tried them on, squashed between other women trying on similar All Saints styles, commenting on how lovely they all are. I had a walk around in them and felt insantly Rock Chic...but was I really going to buy this slightly impractical yet stunning pair AND a pair of black flat ones? No, too much money. As I put them back in the box, still undecided, a keen sales assistant appeared. "I love these boots, we've sold SO many pairs of these today". Ah. That decided it. I left the Shoe Galleries pretty quickly without my essential Rock Chic footwear realising that however special I felt wearing them, at least 200, 300 + other rock chick boot lovers all over the country had felt the exact same way. I don't think that thought would put many people off...but for me there is no bigger turn off to buy something than knowing it is the most popular item. It is for this reason, not environmental issues, why I began making my own clothes, yet I am not blessed with the ability, nor equipment to make my own shoes. Reminded of my love for the niche and unique (yet affordable) I shall go back to finding small labels run by responsible designers trying to make a difference.

Oh, and until I can get my boots fixed I found my next purchase:

Terra Plana Black Birch Boot

BBC Blast @ V&A Fashion Festival

BBC Blast and the V&A have collaborated to create a unique schedule of FREE fashion workshops aimed at 13-19 year olds who are keen to find out more about the fashion industry and ask advice from industry insiders. Saturday 2nd October will see the first dedicated fashion workshop programme organised by BBC Blast and the V&A Sackler Centre. The free workshops include fashion styling, hair and beauty demonstrations, learning how to knit, fashion upcycle, fashion illustration, photoshop skills for image transfer and a live Q&A with Erin O'Connor!

For more information visit the website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/210023

Visit the website to register and pre-book your preferred workshop. Many are drop in, so come along and see what's on offer. Plus it's another great excuse to get down to the ever inspiring V&A museum.

The Yellow Dress

Colin and Livia Firth at the BAFTAS 2010

Me wearing the dress August 2010

After falling in love with the yellow Leila Hafzi dress on Livia Firth's Green Carpet Challenge blog on the Vogue website, finding it on the Oxfam E-Bay site, placing my bids, eagerly awaiting the deadline, becoming the successful bidder and making slight alterations, I finally wore it to Laura and Duncan's wedding!

I thoroughly enjoyed wearing it, it is such a comfortable yet beautiful dress - and I greatly enjoyed telling people the story of how I aquired it.

Having a story to tell about a garment you love is something really special. Whether it is associated with a previous owner, an unusual shopping experience or has been created or customised by the wearer or loved ones, the story of a garment is something that has the potential to connect people more to the clothing they wear. It would be so great to hear more stories of clothing when I enquire in the future about someone's outfit of choice.

CSF@Estethica - Martina Spetlova

CSF@Estethica - Romina Karamanea

CSF@Estethica - Josie Beckett

CSF@Estethica - Borders and Frontiers

CSF @ Esthetica LFW Sept.2010

Another season and another fantastic range of exhibitors at Estethica. The Centre for Sustainable Fashion is based at LCF and is an hub "interacting with fashion education, research and the wider industry". As part of the Business Support Programme, CSF @ Estethica is profiling the work of 4 designers enrolled on the programme who are working to improve the sustainability credentials of their business. This season they are: (from left to right on the image below). Martina Spetlova, Borders and Frontiers, Romina Karamenea, Josie Beckett.

THTC Upcycling

After meeting Gav from THTC and helping out this week with the NOI collective workshops at the START Garden Party to Make a Difference, I was inspired to set myself a THTC upcycle project:

IMPROV-INSTRUCTIONS

2x small t-shirts (as below)

1x waistband

1) Cut off the sleeves from t-shirt 1
2) Cut the bottom half of the t-shirt off
3) Stitch waistband to the bottom of the shortened t-shirt

4) Slice the neckline off the 2nd t-shirt
5) Stitch the top of t-shirt 2 to the bottom of the waistband
6) Fold the sleeves inside the dress and turn into pockets
7) Stitch the bottom part of t-shirt 1 to the bottom of t-shirt 2
(unless you would prefer a minidress!)

I wore my upcycled THTC dress to the Sunday workshops at the START Garden Party and inspired many youngsters to have a go at remaking a t-shirt.
(see http://noicollective.blogspot.com for further images)

NOI Collective Day Three: Clementine&THTC

Textile Recycling Bank Sightings

Camden New Town Community Festival

Upcycle Fashion on YouTube

My first contribution to the online video sharing network is a short (and silent!) documentary film that I made after myself and coursemates went out onto the streets of Oxford Street to ask the general public (and many tourists) what their opinions of 'Eco Fashion' were if they even knew what it really meant in the first place. Fortunately it wasn't all an overwhelming sea of blank faces - but a mix of those who understood and acted upon their opinions regarding the damaging environmental effects of the fashion industry ... and those who had no idea. Interestingly it was the younger people who were more engaged and understanding of the issues. They seemed to have more of an awareness through picking up information in the media and felt like they were important issues for our time - mainly focusing on the issues of fairtrade, material waste and resource depletion. In general the older shoppers around Oxford Circus were not aware of the importance of the issues and what was being done to change things. One man commented that there was no point attempting to change anything, because ultimately 'what will happen will happen'. Not an optimistic mentality to be faced with when trying to spread positivity and optimism and raise awareness hopefully leading to life changing actions, but hey ho! It was a really interesting afternoon and I look forward to questioning more shoppers about their ethics and shopping habits.

Be The Change
(my first you tube upload - I attempt to improve the quality of my short films!)

Ethical Fashion Forum Network

Looking through the EFF network it is really good format and surprising to me that this social media has not been taken up more by young people of the generation that has grown up with facebook/bebo/youtube/myspace.

In line with my MA research I have set up a group on the ethical fashion forum network called Sustainable Textiles and Fashion GCSE

Through inviting members of the network to join, I hope I can develop a discussion and conversation surrounding the aims of my MA and I can drive the project forward with information from a new audience.

TRASH FASHION

Today I visited the science museum to check out the temporary exhibit Trash Fashion. The display was within the new Antenna section of the museum that hosts shows exploring themes around science and technology. The Trash Fashion exhibit focused on designing out waste and included the work of Mark Liu and his zero waste pattern cut clothing, Suzanne Lee and biocouture garments (created from fabric that is grown from bio cultures and moulded into 3D shapes) and Sandy Black, showcasing her knit to fit garment processes based on 3D body scanning. All the garments on display were beautiful, and 'fashionable' - a world apart from the now extremely misrepresented stereotype of 'eco-chic' fashion. I would like everyone to see this exhibit, as it focused on the technology and innovation that is being incorporated into new clothing designs for a sustainable future. It is no longer enough to just design a nice frock or have a deep and dark design concept to produce an interesting collection - for me the garment needs to tell a story that is relevant and plays a role in changing the way we view our clothing - and improves the impact the system in which it exists has on the environment.

A Call for Textile Design Teachers

If you are, or know anyone, teaching textile design at a secondary school, community workshop or adult education centre please get in touch!

julia-faye@hotmail.com

VINTAGE PRIMARK

Conversation#100 "VINTAGE PRIMARK"

I recently overheard a colleague complementing another on her dress. The dress wearer thanked her and, as is often unfortunately the case these days, told that it was from Primark. Except in this instance she had bought her Primark dress from a charity shop. Faced with a bizarre combination of something I love (2nd hand clothes shopping) with something I am not so keen on (consumption of mass produced, cheap clothing in a crap retail environment) I was slightly confused as to how I felt about the purchase. It is an unfortunate fact that many of the garments in charity shops are now cheap retail cast offs and garments the charity shop would find hard to sell for less than the original price of the garment. Can a charity shop justify selling any recent garment second hand for more than would have been paid for it on the high street? Often the answer is no, as this won’t make the money charities need to run many aid and development projects. Good quality items are essential for the charity shops, as people are willing to spend more on a quality vintage item, but won’t spend more than £5 for a t-shirt they can buy for the same price new. The need for good quality stock has lead to some charity shops requesting that Primark items are not donated, as to avoid the charity shop looking like a dumping ground for the worn out, faded fast fashion basics. However, for many people the destination for unwanted clothing is either charity shop or the bin...and with charity shops wanting to improve their image and encourage good quality donations, they simultaneously increase the proportion of ‘waste’ clothing that is 'worn out' before it’s time and has no destination other than landfill. Contributions to the growing waste stream of textiles is the last thing we need, so considering the aim of many charity shops the advise would be that if you are going to buy cheap clothing, don’t consider it to be disposable. Keep it. If possible, save up and invest in something you love so much you will want to wear every year. We all need basics but we don’t need these to wear out quickly – we don’t have to spend less money on more stuff. Value the materials that you buy...and slow down the unsustainable nature of buying clothing as if it’s going out of, well...fashion.

Ten Ways to Use Less Oil

Taken from the Greenpeace website, I love these tips for living a less oil intensive lifestyle.

As more people are becoming aware of environmental issues, the conversations I am having with people are slowly changing from telling people about the issues to telling people how they can incorporate change within their lifestyle to make a difference. Many people are now aware of the issues...they understand that something must be done, but don't know where to start and need a nudge in the right direction. Telling people how to make the changes is a step forward to just telling them about the issues. People want to create change and this 10 step guide from Greenpeace is a great example for oil consumption...

In the wake of the ongoing catastrophe of the Gulf oil spill, lots of people have been asking us how they can reduce their oil consumption in their daily lives. Here's our top ten:

1. Carpool, cycle or use public transport to go to work.

2. Choose when possible products packaged without plastic and recycle or re-use containers.


3. Buy organic fruits and vegetables (fertilisers and pesticides are based on oil more often than not).

4. Buy beauty products (shampoo, soap, make-up) based on natural ingredients, not oil.

5. Choose when possible locally produced products (less transport involved).

6. Buy clothes made out of organic cotton or hemp - not from oil derivatives.

7. Use non-disposable items in picnics and summer festivals.

8. Quit bottled water.

9. Fly less.

10. Demand that your government encourage renewable energy instead of oil

SKINT NATION

"SKINT NATION"

We are reaching a strange time in the history of approaches to fashion consumption. With many people wanting to pay the lowest price possible for a ‘fashion bargain’ on the high street and online, it is now possible for the consumer to buy new clothing for a lower price than 2^nd hand garments. The common approach to acquiring new clothing only a few decades ago was to pass them between family members and friends or buy second hand clothing as a cheaper alternative to buying new clothing from the tailor or Marks and Spencer. The image of second hand clothing today however is still understood by many people to fit in with this second rate method of purchasing cheaper clothing - not as good quality as anything you could buy new. Yet today, when we can buy new clothing for cheaper than charity shop items sometimes of higher quality, the priorities of what we desire from our clothing have changed. The low cost poor quality items that classed as second rate and looked down upon for being ‘cheap’, have now become the new, trend driven, fast fashion items that are desired and sold to thousands of people every week. When did it become cool to wear a new dress every week? When did it become OK to spend £3 on a t-shirt? Over the years we have become increasingly proud to declare a new dress was bought from Primark, ‘it only cost a tenner – I’m skint’. With recession and student debt spiralling out of control, the mass market for fashion and mainstream appeals to the ‘fashion’ driven who can get it with a limited budget and no regard for what this destroys, how other elements of the system that creates this maximum choice effect the environment. We need to look at the bigger picture in terms of the fast fashion cycle and expose the unsustainable nature of the fast fashion age. Our skint nation has developed a dangerous addiction to maximum choice for minimum expense with no consideration for the consequences – hidden behind vibrant retail environments and distracting visual marketing...and now they’re hooked it’s going to be a dangerous habit to break.

Kew Gardens - beautiful and inspiring