We made this video at Pentagram to showcase some of the work that the partners do. This one features William Russell, an architect who is a very inspiring, very talented man. My eyes well up every time I watch this.
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Tag: Fashion
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This Because
My good friend Zoe has just set up quite a brilliant thing: This Because.
This Because is a website containing a carefully curated collection of products that are made resourcefully and help people live generously. It gives you a selection of products that aren’t just self-serving, products that benefit others in the process – be it sausages where a portion of the cost gets donated to impoverished areas, or upcycled purses that helps raise money for Women for Orphans and Widows. Products range from food to household items to clothing and each product tells the story of the cause and/or craft you’re supporting with your purchase.
The Sunday Times Style Magazine celebrated it’s tenth anniversary this weekend with a lovely press and poster campaign and a special issue of Style in today’s paper.
I love this. Both the words and the ‘stitched’ typography. Probably even enough to start reading the Times ..
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The Search for Second-hand Clothes
Inspired by the lovely Liv (@theendofthenew) I decided 2012 would be the start of me buying as few new clothes as possible. Women in the UK waste £1.6 billion on clothes they’ll never wear and 1.2 million tonnes of this goes to landfill. Not so good for wallets or the environment.
In my bid to not buy new, I’ve spent a lot of time pounding the pavement trying to find good places to shop.
Decent charity shops are sometimes hard to come by. You either find ones with prices too high (yes even though it’s for charity, it’s hard to reconcile paying more for something used than you would for it new) or ones that tend to have not so stellar stock or ones that are brilliant but far away (case in point: Whitstable – amazing but too far to travel for clothes on a regular basis) So I’ve compiled a list of a few of my favs.
Oxfam, Dalston Junction.
- This shop is big. And it works on a coloured label tag (ie: yellow labels, all £1). Plenty of bargains and a sizable homewares section. Best purchase here? A bright yellow leather clutch.
Save the Children Shop, Clapham.
- Located on a road with plenty other charity shops and good for an afternoon adventure, loves this massive shop. It’s the kind of place to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. Although chaotic there are loads of bargains and plenty from my personal favourite decade, the 80s.
RSPCA, Stoke Newington. (aka The new kid on the block)
- For moments when you’re considering popping in to the high road to buy a staple wardrobe item (black cardigan, white vest top, you know, those things) this is the place to go. They’ve got lots of stock and a good amount of ‘work clothes’. There’s also a Mind shop close by that’s also quite good. I bagged myself some Kurt Geiger pumps for a fiver last week. Score.
Salvation Army, Mare Street, Hackney.
- If you’re after vintage but don’t want to pay the premium for something from past decades, this is your shop. The store is relatively new and has some usual but lovely clothes. Especially dresses. And shoes.
Lama’s Pyjama’s, Roman Road.
- Lama’s is particularly good for accessories like belts, shoes and costume jewellery.
YMCA, Goodge Street.
- This used to be my favourite place to go on lunch breaks with @jocorrall when I was at Do The Green Thing. It’s full of good (random) t-shirts and has lots of nice coats.
If you can think of any others I should add, please do share. I’m a bit biased to North-East London but that can change!
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Plastic Fashion? No thanks.
For some strange reason, at this moment in time, littering the pages of many glossy magazines is plastic. Plastic fashion.
I do love fashion. And I do love a good read through of a glossy magazine. But I don’t love plastic fashion. “Plastic, c’est fantastic“, “plastic is so S/S ’11“. It’s really not.
Maybe it’s got the whole vintage appeal and plays on peoples memories of jelly shoes and bobble hair accessories. And don’t get me wrong, I did love my jelly shoes when I was young. I even wore some terrible opal jelly platforms from Le Chateau to my grade eight graduation. (Fashion victim, I know). But, I don’t fully understand why plastic fashion has made a comeback. More and more mags are covering ethical fashion and sustainable styles yet plastic has still managed to creep its way in to spring/summer.
So here are a few suggested alternatives to plastic fashion for any conscious person out there who cringes the way that I do at the thought of more plastic being produced.
- This looks like plastic, feels like plastic and well, it is plastic. But it’s recycled plastic. Like these bags turned into a corset, and these suits made from plastic bottles. Or how about these shoes made from plastic bags? (Admittedly not the most attractive footwear, but you know, they’re unique)
- Check out Plastic Seconds. They do hand made accessories from plastic that can’t be recycled.
- Buy vintage, like someone else’s old jelly shoes. It’s really a better shout than it sounds. Plenty of bargains and gems to be found! And you’d be giving something old and lovely a new lease of life.
Despite my love of trends, I’ll be passing on this plastic one. Unless I happen to stumble across something at my local charity shop.
Nice jeans, eh? I inherited them last week at a clothes swap at Green Thing HQ. Inspired by The End of The New, a fashion conscious experiment in not buying new clothes, I thought it would be fun to get a bunch of friends and colleagues in the same room with bags of old clothes and swap around. And that’s exactly what happened last Wednesday evening.
I also managed to bag this lovely yellow terrycloth Lacoste dress. Perfect for the beach.
It was amazing sharing experiences of our wardrobes and stories about just how much stuff we all owned but either never wore, wore until it went out of fashion or wore it thin. I think most people walked away pleased with their ‘new’ items of clothing and hopefully we will all think a bit more before we buy throwaway fashion. Even though it’s cheap and accessible, I’ve found that clothes that have a history and have been loved are the best. With swap parties because everything is valued the same, you end up coming away with things you may have never worn before and you become a bit more creative about what you wear and how you wear it.
There are plenty of places to swap clothes with people online, like The Big Wardrobe and Posh Swaps. And, if you’re really keen just organise one of your own. No experience necessary!