March 3, 2011 by guest
We are always excited to spend time in the Estethica section at London Fashion Week‘s Somerset House based exhibition. This season there was a great buzz as the great and the good of the international fashion pack attended the champagne brunch for the official launch of this season’s Monsoon sponsored selection of brands. To become part of the Estethica family, brands must be working with Fairtrade, organic and/or recycled and upcycled materials. Its an amazing opportunity for the best ethical fashion businesses to be showcased at the heart of London Fashion Week. Here we feature some of the brands that we particularly loved this season.
Goodone AW11
Goodone is a contemporary womenswear brand with a distinctly London feel. Using pre and post consumer materials alongside new British textiles, all manufactured in the UK, they create a really energetic feel to the collection that features colour blocking and artfully mixed textures. Body con shapes offset oversized silhouettes. Bold brights interplay with softer neutrals. Thanks to the founder and creative director, Nin, who talked us through the AW’11 offer.
Partimi AW11
Partimi‘s AW’11 collection of poetic prints on soft and subtle silhouettes is a continuation from the theme of her first collection for SS’11 called ‘Dieu Bleu’. The Autumn collection is called ‘Garden’ and draws inspiration from childhood memories and lush winter gardens. Striking prints sit with sustainably sourced organic wool, silk and linen to create a soft and subtle yet luxurious offer. Thanks to Eleanor, the founder and designer of this label, for spending some time to talk us through the range. Do also check out Partimi’s stunning video showcasing the new collection.
Joanna Cave AW11
Joanna Cave AW11
Next to Partimi at Estethica, was Joanna Cave‘s collection of stunning jewellery. Joanna and Eleanor have been working together to accessorize the Partimi collection to great effect. Joanna’s collection of recycled silver and ethically sourced farmed pearls is produced in Athens where Joanna’s aim is to support an ancient, yet sadly dying tradition of expert jewellery making. The AW’11 collection is inspired by the delicateness of ballet, balanced with a strong Art Nouveau aesthetic which is particularly visible in the amazing headpieces.
Little Glass Clementine AW11
We also love the jewellery collection of Little Glass Clementine, the creation of Clementine James. We spotted her work first of all as part of Selfridges ‘Bright Young Things’. The AW’11 collection, titled ‘Beautifully Dismantled’ showcases a range of pieces that come with the unique history attached to the collection of found objects that are merged to create small pieces of accessories art. James takes what she calls “broken treasure” and gives them a new life in combination with carefully selected recycled materials including memorial china and discarded love notes.
Lu Flux AW11
Lu Flux has developed her unique and wonderfully playful handwriting in a new direction for AW’11, channeling a sea style theme with her ‘Sea and be Seen’ collection. The Lu Flux collections are handmade in the UK, principally from carefully sourced vintage fabrics. The Autumn offer brings gorgeous tweeds, rich velvets and chunky wools into the mix with artfully sketchy embroideries of fantastical sea creatures. We particularly love the almost architectural shift dress with the clam inspired hemline!
Michelle Lowe-Holder AW11
Finally we have Michelle Lowe-Holder who’s AW’11 collection is a brilliant extension of her origami style, intricately folded accessories collection. This season plaids and prints layer into the collection, along with flashes of metallic foiled sections. The range is created from hand cut or crocheted pieces interlaced with off-cuts of previous collections, end of line ribbons and cuttings sourced from local factories. An additional layer of texture and colour is introduced with bold and bright flocking which has been applied to charity shop finds as well as pieces designed and created specifically by Lowe-Holder.
[Thanks to Lucy Williams from “Blink London" for this review]
February 11, 2011 by Cath
London Fashion Week is almost here with another packed catwalk schedule and exhibition dates showcasing A/W 2011 Collections.
From February 18th – 22nd, the Exhibition at London Fashion Week will be housed under one roof in the neo-classical surrounds of Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
Open: 10am – 7pm each day, with an early closing time on Tuesday 22nd of 6pm.
Estethica will be showcasing cutting edge designers committed to working eco sustainably, including several labels on our Business Support Programme including Michelle Lowe Holder, Ada Zanditon, Lu Flux and Partimi.
November 12, 2010 by Cath
Sponsored by Monsoon and supported by the London Development Agency, Estethica’s press & buyers day is taking place on the 6th December (moved due to a tube strike on the 29th November). Hosted at Somerset House Portico Rooms, Caroline Rush, CEO British Fashion Council, will announce the new recipients of the Estethica mentoring scheme.
There will be a Q&A ‘Sustainable Fashion from Conservation to Innovation’ with Tamsin Blanchard (The Daily Telegraph), Jessica Brinton (Sunday Times Style), Lucy Siegle (The Observer), Christopher Raeburn and Dilys Williams (Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion).
There will also be a screening of the film ‘We Come / We Go’ from the launch of the Estethica online retail space, at Yooxygen on yoox.com, the official online retail partner plus poetry reading at tea time. Designers involved in the Press Day include several labels on the CSF Business Support Programme such as Martina Spetlova, Borders and Frontiers and Partimi
October 27, 2010 by Cath
The Estethica exhibition at London Fashion Week showcases pioneering designers who make clothes you never want to throw away. This exclusive photo shoot highlights some of the season’s best looks. The photo shoot includes designs from Martina Spetlova- a label from our Business Support Program- who was showcased on the CSF Stand at Estethica.
October 14, 2010 by Cath
Designers Showcased by the Centre for Sustainable Fashion
London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion showcased a quartet of designers from its emerging talent program, which provides nascent brands with business support to help them suceed in the industry. The four designers are Romina Karamanea, Josie Beckett, Borders & Frontiers, and Martina Spetlova, whose work is pictured above. Although each designer approached their collections in different ways, all four are united through their strong visual aesthetic and design-led approach to tackling environmental issues.
Read the full article
May 5, 2010 by nina
Harold Tillman & model Laura Bailey. Image courtesy of Evening Standard
Harold Tillman, Chairman of the British Fashion Council is spearheading a campaign that will incentivise fashion businesses to work in a more sustainable way and to make eco fashion more affordable and accessible to consumers. This call for action follows last week’s RE: Fashion Summit and the recent British Fashion Council’s estethica debate on the promotion of ethical fashion and consumer engagement. The campaign, supported by Monsoon, Vivienne Westwood, Edun, George at ASDA, From Somewhere and London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion, calls on all parties to recognise that to effect change, sustainability and ethical fashion also needs to make commercial sense.
Harold Tillman comments:
“Sustainability within the fashion industry, the second largest employer in the UK, needs to be more than just personal choice, it needs to make sense for businesses and consumers. We are calling on all parties to recognise the impact that tax breaks could make on one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative industries by supporting those who are working in a sustainable way and making it attractive to all businesses to be more ethical. If UK citizens can get tax breaks on more energy efficient cars and other sustainable products, why can’t they wear their values with pride and get tax breaks on ethical fashion?”
‘We need ethical fashion to become part of the mainstream if the industry is to play its part in a more sustainable future’ added Peter Simon,Chairman, Monsoon Accessorize
The UK’s ethical fashion industry is currently worth approximately £175 million (Mintel, 2009) and is growing faster than almost any other ethical sector, at 71% per year (Coop 2008). Mintel’s 2009 report also stated, ‘The widening availability of ethical fashion is central to this growth. Real choice in styling and quality and truly fashionable design has been vital in the market’s development’ and ‘61% of women feel it is important that a company acts ethically’. One third of consumers say they are willing to pay more for ethically produced clothing and footwear (TNS Global, 2008).
The RE:Fashion Summit was held in London on Monday 26th April. RE:Fashion is an industry group, brought together the Ethical Fashion Forum, Anti-Apathy and Futerra (founders of Swishing). RE:Fashion is asking the three main parties running for Government to offer tax breaks on sustainable clothing to improve the social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry.
The summit brought together stakeholders to discuss the future of the UK’s ethical fashion industry including:
Harold Tillman (Jaeger, Aquascutum and the British Fashion Council); Christian Kemp-Griffin (Chief Mission Officer, Edun); Dilys Williams (Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion); Orsola De Castro (estethica, From Somewhere); Gillian Lipton (Monsoon); Jessie Brinton (Sunday Times Style); Cyndi Rhoades (CEO, Worn Again); Clare Lissaman (Supply Chain Consultant); Lucy Shea (CEO, Futerra Sustainability Communications); Vicky Murray (Senior Sustainability Advisor, Forum for the Future); Amisha Ghadiali (Ethical Fashion Forum).
Topics discussed included proposals for support from government, partnerships and collaboration, sustainable products, and other tactics to promote the desirability of sustainable fashion.
This has already been picked up by the Evening Standard, we’ll let you know as and when we have more news on this.
by nina
Harold Tillman & model Laura Bailey. Image courtesy of Evening Standard
Harold Tillman, Chairman of the British Fashion Council is spearheading a campaign that will incentivise fashion businesses to work in a more sustainable way and to make eco fashion more affordable and accessible to consumers. This call for action follows last week’s RE: Fashion Summit and the recent British Fashion Council’s estethica debate on the promotion of ethical fashion and consumer engagement. The campaign, supported by Monsoon, Vivienne Westwood, Edun, George at ASDA, From Somewhere and London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion, calls on all parties to recognise that to effect change, sustainability and ethical fashion also needs to make commercial sense.
Harold Tillman comments:
“Sustainability within the fashion industry, the second largest employer in the UK, needs to be more than just personal choice, it needs to make sense for businesses and consumers. We are calling on all parties to recognise the impact that tax breaks could make on one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative industries by supporting those who are working in a sustainable way and making it attractive to all businesses to be more ethical. If UK citizens can get tax breaks on more energy efficient cars and other sustainable products, why can’t they wear their values with pride and get tax breaks on ethical fashion?”
‘We need ethical fashion to become part of the mainstream if the industry is to play its part in a more sustainable future’ added Peter Simon,Chairman, Monsoon Accessorize
The UK’s ethical fashion industry is currently worth approximately £175 million (Mintel, 2009) and is growing faster than almost any other ethical sector, at 71% per year (Coop 2008). Mintel’s 2009 report also stated, ‘The widening availability of ethical fashion is central to this growth. Real choice in styling and quality and truly fashionable design has been vital in the market’s development’ and ‘61% of women feel it is important that a company acts ethically’. One third of consumers say they are willing to pay more for ethically produced clothing and footwear (TNS Global, 2008).
The RE:Fashion Summit was held in London on Monday 26th April. RE:Fashion is an industry group, brought together the Ethical Fashion Forum, Anti-Apathy and Futerra (founders of Swishing). RE:Fashion is asking the three main parties running for Government to offer tax breaks on sustainable clothing to improve the social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry.
The summit brought together stakeholders to discuss the future of the UK’s ethical fashion industry including:
Harold Tillman (Jaeger, Aquascutum and the British Fashion Council); Christian Kemp-Griffin (Chief Mission Officer, Edun); Dilys Williams (Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion); Orsola De Castro (estethica, From Somewhere); Gillian Lipton (Monsoon); Jessie Brinton (Sunday Times Style); Cyndi Rhoades (CEO, Worn Again); Clare Lissaman (Supply Chain Consultant); Lucy Shea (CEO, Futerra Sustainability Communications); Vicky Murray (Senior Sustainability Advisor, Forum for the Future); Amisha Ghadiali (Ethical Fashion Forum).
Topics discussed included proposals for support from government, partnerships and collaboration, sustainable products, and other tactics to promote the desirability of sustainable fashion.
This has already been picked up by the Evening Standard, we’ll let you know as and when we have more news on this.
November 13, 2009 by amucklow
CSF are thrilled to announce that Ada Zanditon and Christopher Raeburn (two great brands that are part of our business support programme) have been selected alongside Goodone, Minna, Nina Dolcetti and The North Circular to benefit from the British Fashion Council’s new Eco Fashion Mentor Programme with the aim to increase opportunities for ethical designers in the mainstream fashion market, the initiative is supported by the London Development Agency.
For more info on the scheme see this story in Vogue.com
September 22, 2009 by amucklow
Time for a catch up of CSF news. We been so super busy I fear time may have run away from us without so much of an update.
With LFW here, in fact almost over, we’ve had all hands on deck in the office trying to produce our Shared Talent India look book, man the stand in Estethica, launch our new website, host an evening at Asia House and organize the Student Competition.
So, where to start? Shared Talent India, as you probably know has been a design model based on collaboration, sharing knowledge and working collectively. The workshop took place in India during July and the fruits of this are being shown on the Monsoon stand in Estethica at LFW. To support the work, and show how beautiful clothes can be made from sustainable Indian textiles we thought it would be great to produce a lookbook to support the collection. All the designers who took part in the project have some of their work styled and shot in the book.
The shoot took place in an amazing hotel, just outside Hastings, called Eagle House Hotel and what a place. It is difficult to describe the location – check out the photos and the behind the scenes video footage to get a taste for the shoot and the location. It was a long and fraught day but despite the stress the end results are fantastic and a credit to all involved especially the photographer, Kerry Dean, and stylist, Katie Felstead. We felt the shoot should be sexy, modern, colourful and very fashion forward. The results were beautiful and alongside the work being displayed on the stand at fashion week show how doing things differently can produce great results. Forging a new path is scary but worthwhile and this is what working in the ‘movement’ of sustainable fashion is all about – if you don’t try you don’t know.
The behind the scenes video and images from the look book will be on the site soon…
So onwards to the launch of our brand new website. This has been a CSF baby for a long time and we’re thrilled to be live. The design of the website was also something of a collaborate process, with the web design company, Exposure, being a great creative driving force, not to mention patient and understanding about all our requirements. The new site will feature articles from leading industry figures, research dialogue makers and future big stars. Please contact us with ideas for articles, information, features, comments.
So, we’ve got the stand for one more day and things have been going well. The launch on Friday was a success and the event last night at Asia House, was also an interesting opportunity to discuss things with a new audience and explore some of the issues raised during Shared Talent. A great evening was had by all.
