LIFE THERE

LONDON PRESS SERVICE INFORMS

Couturiers with a Conscience at London Fashion Week

Just as fashion changes, so does the character of the twice-yearly international designer showcase, London Fashion Week.

Fresh ideas and new names, venues and events appear every season. For example, at the latest London Fashion Week – 11–16 February – “green” fashion reflecting public concern for the future of the planet and for people working in less-developed countries of the world is being given more prominence.

Until recently “ethical” fashion tended to be dismissed as “hippie” clothes and was largely ignored by the fashion world. But serious designers are now looking harder at using organic materials produced with less harm to the environment and to workers, as well as recycled clothes and fabrics, and to fair-trade producers who receive more of the profits from their products.

As a result, a number of designers whose eco-sustainable policies are cornerstones of their businesses are showing together in a space called Estethica at the static exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Exhibition Road, west London.

The exhibition (12-15 February) plays a very important role at London Fashion Week (LFW). It is where both established and up-and-coming designers of clothes, shoes, bags, belts, jewellery, scarves and other accessories display their latest ideas. International buyers and the media are able to spend time browsing the 130 exhibition stands, talking to the designers or their representatives and placing orders.

The idea of allocating space to ethical fashion companies was introduced at September 2006 London Fashion Week when designers and companies from various parts of the globe displayed collections made from organically grown cotton or recycled clothes. A spokesman for the British Fashion Council, which runs LFW, said it had caused a considerable and positive reaction and had been so successful that it was decided to assign a larger area to it this time.

Co-curating Estethica are Filippo Ricci and Orsola de Castro, Italian owners of one of the exhibiting companies called From Somewhere. Based in the United Kingdom, From Somewhere has been taking the fashion industry’s own waste and turning it into desirable clothes, for nearly 10 years.

Designers take fabric off-cuts, ends of roll and other textiles discarded at the close of each season and, instead of allowing them to end up in landfill sites, create individual, beautiful and stylish garments. Many are made from the most luxurious and desirable fabrics such as silk, cashmere, jersey and tweed.

From Somewhere’s distinctive and original collections are sold mainly to private clients through its London showroom and they are also to be found in exclusive boutiques in Italy and Japan, and other parts of the UK.

Also showing at Estethica is one of the UK’s most successful and respected designers of top quality clothes for men and women, Katharine Hamnett, who has been actively engaged in making the fashion industry more environmentally responsible, and more politically aware, since the 1980s.

Based on research into the impact of the clothing and textile industry on the environment, the designer resolved in 1989 to try to change the way that cotton was produced, and she is now a strong advocate of using only organic cotton.

Hamnett is also a campaigner on many other issues, including global warming. Her Estethica collection will include her sought-after slogan T-shirts in a variety of subtle colours and made entirely from organic cotton.

One hundred per cent organic cotton is also used in Del Forte denim, another Estethica exhibitor. Based in Los Angeles, a city that, Del Forte says is “a leader in anti-sweatshop legislation and enforcement”, the firm has partnered with The Sustainable Cotton Project to “build bridges between farmers, manufacturers and consumers to pioneer markets for certified organically grown and sustainable cotton”.

Behind the label is designer Tierra Del Forte who said: “Organic is win-win for everyone. Customers love it, ecologically responsible mills get rewarded, organic farms profit, and I get to feel good about the fabric I use.”

The principles behind the production of boots and shoes by UK company Terra Plana are many and varied. The firm works with a leather tannery that employs a new method that eliminates chrome, about which health questions have been raised.

Vegetable dyes are used for the leathers and textiles, and latex, a natural product, for the soles. The minimum amount of glue is used and attractive trimmings that give the boots and shoes great eye-appeal, particularly to young buyers, come from recycled quilts, jackets, shirts and jeans.

Terra Plana also tries to ensure that materials come from suppliers that are near to factories, to reduce transport costs. The system seems to work well – Terra Plana’s products are popular across the world, and the company, whose headquarters is in London, has offices in Italy, Japan and the United States.

For several years, London has taken a specific role in the round of fashion weeks that occur each spring and autumn in fashion capitals such as New York, Paris and Milan. It is where all the newest, edgiest ideas and the most inventive and creative young designers have launched their careers.

Now, some big-name designers are using the occasion to draw attention to developments in their businesses. The Armani empire, for example, had a catwalk show at September 2006 LFW to mark the opening of a refurbished London store.

In February, US superstar Marc Jacobs is, for the first time at LFW, showing his diffusion line, Marc for Marc Jacobs, in conjunction with the opening of his new store in Mount Street in the capital.

Young Nigerian designer Duro Olowu, whose billowing kaftan-style dresses were a surprise must-have item two years ago (he won a 2005 British Fashion Award for “New Designer”), has created a collection that will be shown for the first time at LFW. Olowu has been awarded New Generation status that, thanks to sponsorship by high-street fashion store Topshop, is allowing him to stage his first catwalk show at this major event.

The New Generation scheme has been going since 1993 and has helped to initiate the careers of some of the UK’s top international names such as Alexander McQueen, Antonio Berardi, Clements Ribeiro, Julien Macdonald, Matthew Williamson and Sophia Kokosalaki.

Fourteen other exciting young designers have also been given New Gen status for 2007. They include Christopher Kane (whose work has caught the eye of Donatella Versace) who will be showing his second collection at London Fashion Week with New Gen support; Gareth Pugh, known for his innovative use of fabric; Richard Nicoll, born in Australia, whose designs are now stocked in more than 20 stores worldwide; Jojo & Malou, a London-based Swedish design team run by Jojo Ericson and Malou Palmquist, and accessories designer Ginta Siceva, who grew up in Latvia where handcraft skills are part of the national heritage. She moved to London to enrol at the London College of Fashion when she was 19.

Hilary Riva, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, commented: “This season’s New Generation designers are highly talented and incredibly diverse. London is unrivalled in its ability to attract and launch top design talent from all over the world, and February will be another fantastic showcase of this.”

By Liz Clark