Becoming sustainably stylish

This week I made a conscious decision to walk the sustainable fashion line. Sounds serious I know, but the reason is quite simple. I want my own personal style to represent what I believe in, have a meaning while remaining fun and stylish. I like being eco friendly, natural and conscious of the world around me. So it makes sense that I should be choosing eco friendly, organic, and sustainable clothing.

I already use natural beauty and household products, alternative medicines, chose organic and chemical free foods where possible. I recycle; even going through the rubbish bin pulling out paper, husband, absentmindedly throws in there. But I haven’t always thought about my wardrobe purchases beyond “I LOVE it and I have to HAVE it”. It is definitely time for me to more aware of my clothing choices.

I actually can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make this decision. For years I have read stuff about natural health, alternative medicines, natural beauty products, the importance of recycling, and the damage our much loved fashion industry can have on our environment. At times the information has blown me away, shocked me more than graphic pictures of violence. I have been reduced to tears at the thought of animals been experimented on, people been made to work in clearly inhumane conditions and the caducity of unused materials, such as dyes, in waterways. We humans can be such wasters and completely toxic to our habitat!

I want to show people that we can take care of the world we live in and be stylish at the same time. My first step was to analyse what I already own. If I’m going to make this an ongoing style choice, I cannot start by purchasing more stuff – eco friendly labels or not. So I went through what is currently hanging in my wardrobe and what was stored in boxes in our garage. I was surprised and proud of my subconscious, I hadn’t been as terrible as I first imagined. My love of vintage and natural fabrics helped, as did clothes swapping with my Mum and Sister over the years and raiding my Mother in Laws wardrobe of late. Her 70’s/80’s collectables makes me feel manic with excitement. My newest purchases were good too; I had bought garments made from silk, cashmere, merino and recycled leather… EXCELLENT at least that’s a good start. All I need to do is become familiar with where and how they made… hmmm there’s a challenge.

So, here begins my journey to becoming sustainably stylish!

The wardrobe that has nothing has everything

The wardrobe that has nothing has everything

Last week I went to a clients house for her annual wardrobe clean out. She had pre-warned me that there would be nothing in there for her to keep. It would be a matter of throwing everything out and starting again... even in the face of a recession. Hmmm I thought, this can't be. How can you have a wardrobe filled with clothes and have nothing to wear. Had she lost all creativity? Surely not, I had been working with her for a year now. Creativity is the first thing I install in her, what had happened?
As I travelled over to her home I went through (in my mind, not on the iphone as I had learnt from that dangerous mistake) all the things we had put into her wardrobe last winter and this summer. I knew there would be some scrumptious things to play with and I was armed with answers. I burst through the door layered with summer meets winter energy only to find a bag filled with the summer stuff sitting at the front door. Her reply to my where is this going? was 'you don't wear summer clothes in the winter so it's going in storage'! HUH??? (is the word to describe my face)... since when.
Winter is the best season of the year. It's exciting, fun and in my opinion when true fashion begins. You can layer, play with so many textures, wear big boots and belt everything. So here's the lesson I shared with my client; layer your summer clothes with winter things. I hope you get something out of this too.
Wear a turtle neck under the cute little summer frock you bought. Add tights, knee high boots and a vibrant coloured scarf or opaque tights and brogue flats.Wear your cuffed short shorts with thick tights and knee high boots. Add a warm big jumper and some fingerless gloves to finish the look.The skinny jeans you've had in the wardrobe for a few seasons now need a new look - turn the cuffs up to the ankle bone. Wear with killer heels, and an in season blouse and men's style blazer.Slip a summer shirt under a long jumper dress for colour. Wear with jeans or tights; flat slouchy boots or heels.Layer, layer, layerAlways use accessoriesWe all have times when we look into a wardrobe filled with clothes and have nothing to wear. Just channel your creative side, there will be outfits a plenty.
Be unique Be beautiful Be youCreative girl x

Decedent in velvet

I knew velvet would enter our stores this winter, which is why for the past year I have been stocking up on recycled velvet pieces. For me it’s been absent for far to long, I’ve been obsessed with the fabric since Princes’ purple little number and I can’t wait to bring my new ‘old’ finds out. It's also one of those perfect fabrics to ride out the recessive winter blues in sophisticated, opulent style.

Here’s some recent recycled finds:



If recycled velvet is not your thing then you’ll be excited to know you can find yummy velvet pieces by designers such as Andrea Moore, G2 by George Gross, Olive and OYL in store now!