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How I fell out of love with Christmas Consumerism
Has anyone else noticed an increase in needy promotional emails from their favourite clothes companies at this time of year? In the past week alone, I’ve received five emails from one company, each subject-line increasingly generous as they demonstrate their desperation for my custom. “You NEED this dress!”, “Exclusive 30% off partywear for you Karen!”, “Hand-picked offers just for you, this party season!” Clearly, the ‘blinding lights’ of consumerism are everywhere at this time of year. A recent survey found that the UK will spend £2.4bn on Christmas clothes that hardly get worn. The statistic demonstrates the shockingly wasteful practices in Britain today and it doesn’t sit well with me.…
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Vegan Fashion: Draw your own line
Words by Karen Bryony Rose The Mainstream It’s safe to say that veganism is no longer niche. Gone are the times when buying vegan food involved trips to obscure shops, where even then the range was limited. These days supermarket shelves are full of plant-based fare and vegan-friendly alternatives. Although I don’t follow a fully vegan diet, there are days when I realise that all of my meals have been vegan without really trying. It seems easy to do since I enjoy cooking with plant-based ingredients. Where vegan fashion is concerned, however, it’s safe to say that many brands have been slower on the uptake. And personally, vegan-friendly fashion hasn’t…
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Fast Fashion And Being Seen On Screen
Buy, snap, post, discard. Our consumer culture encourages incessant buying, and approval from peers via social media further incentivises our hunger for newness. For some of us it’s become the norm to be seen on screen only once wearing a new outfit. Fast fashion brands like ASOS and Pretty Little Thing have capitalised on this and their massive Instagram following is testament to their power. Buying in line with ultra-fast fashion trends has become the norm for some of us – after all, all our heroes are doing it, right? How many of us have watched our favourite influencers unveil their fashion ‘hauls’ – many of which cost hundreds of…
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Fashion’s ‘Now’ Culture Fuels Our Climate Emergency
London Fashion Week has always made the headlines. With its history of bold innovation, the showcase of new fashion is well established in Britain’s culture. But this September, London Fashion Week will feature in headlines of a different kind. Extinction Rebellion intends to shut down London Fashion Week and its aims are supported by science. Textile production is one of the most polluting industries, contributing 1.2 billion tonnes of cO2 equivalent (CO2e) per year, which is more than international flights and maritime shipping. And let’s not forget that cumulatively, the industry produces about 20% of global waste water. The science is stark and Extinction Rebellion’s protest must be bold. It’s…
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How To Fight Climate Change With Fashion
It’s Wednesday evening and Jenna from work has invited me out for Friday night drinks. Having riffled through my bulging and frankly disorganised wardrobe, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have nothing to wear. I scroll through the websites of my two favourite online retailers. With their clever algorithms, clothes tailored to my buying habits pop up in colourful tiles before my eyes. The range of options for delivery is huge and I settle on next day delivery. Hasn’t this become almost second nature? We identify what we want and then it’s delivered to us where and when we want it. However, the cost of our buying habits extends…
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My First Fashion Love
This was the early 2000s and while most of my friends favoured either the head-to-toe black look or the sugary sweet style of early Britney Spears, I remained unenamoured by clothes. If my clothes were a house, they would include mix and match cushions, Ikea furniture and upcycled pieces with the odd statement buy thrown in. In short, I hadn’t found my style. You could say that I was a late bloomer in the fashion department, but when I eventually fell in fashion love, I fell hard. The memory is imprinted on my heart and still makes me smile. At the time I had no concept of vintage fashion. I’d…
