Hiring fabulous frocks with Wear the Walk

Despite our best intentions, we all end up with clothes we don’t wear. We make an impulse purchase, in-store or online, and forget to return it when it doesn’t fit. Our bodies change, rendering parts of our wardrobes uncomfortable or even unwearable unless our bodies change again. We feel compelled, by peer pressure or social expectation, to buy new clothes for weddings or parties, and those same pressures make us uncomfortable about repeating an outfit.  

The expectations surrounding (especially, but not exclusively) feminine clothing can leave us out of pocket, our wardrobes overrun with clothes “for best” that we never have the opportunity to wear. We take it for granted that hiring a suit is always an option for masculine clothing, but there are fewer hire options available for fashion-forward womenswear. 

I’m all in favour of outfit repeating, but if you want a one-off, showstopping outfit, head for clothing hire service Wear the Walk. Founder Zoe selected brands with an element of sustainability to their business practices; whether they are a designer manufacturing in the U.K. and paying a living wage, or using sustainable and recycled fabrics. But as well as their ethical credentials, these are also clothes that have been selected for their design flair and ability to turn heads. Wear The Walk HQ is a treasure trove of colour and texture, the clothes rails full of beautiful garments that demonstrate the creative use of pattern cutting and fabric manipulation knowledge that is pretty much absent from the high street. 

If you’re not a fan of bold colours or loud prints, there are expertly tailored jackets and dresses in more muted tones and styles, but for those of us who like to stand out from the crowd, Wear The Walk is a dream come true. 

I was looking to find an outfit to wear for Nine Worlds; and stylist Chloe showed me around the collection, revealing the wealth of imaginative clothes on offer. I was speaking on a panel about Historical Accuracy in Costuming and found the perfect dress by Korlekie. This gorgeous fringed gown has an element of 1920s anachronism to it (did you know that fringed flapper dresses were largely a Hollywood invention as the movement of the fringing looked so good on film? Evening gowns from the Roaring 20s were more likely to be beaded, but the beading was too noisy for the sound equipment used in early “talkies”!) and just looks and feels fabulous to wear. The dress is stretchy, so one size fits plenty of different bodies, and the holes in the fabric make it tantalisingly revealing without revealing too much.

Wear the Walk charge from between £30 to £100 for an individual hire, depending on the garment, and also offers a subscription service, from £60 per month for two hires. Who am I to resist the siren song of extra clothes? I also picked out a gorgeous green gown from Riona Treacy; another stretchy shape that was easy to wear and felt almost indecently comfortable for something that could be worn for a fancy occasion. 

Speaking of... after my appointment I was heading to a friend’s birthday do. London was in the grip of a heatwave and my carefully selected day-to-evening outfit was looking (and feeling) like a limp lettuce leaf. With a great sense of relief I was able to change right then and there, and I left wearing one of my Wear the Walk hires, and feeling much better about my appearance!

With returns and dry cleaning included in the hire price, I think Wear the Walk offers a useful and affordable service for anyone who wants unique, one-off outfits. At the moment a lot of their stock is restricted to sample sizes (8-12 in UK sizing) but they are working with the brands they stock to introduce a greater range of sizes. I hope everyone who loves being creative with clothes will be able to hire something splendid very soon; being able to enjoy an extravagant outfit without contributing to the exploitation of people or the planet was a wonderful feeling.

The Mindful Makers: Sustainability and Style

There is an urgency to the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry. When you hear Swarovski’s sustainability expert saying “our lifestyles are not sustainable”, you know the message is getting through, and brands, large and small, are going to have to start addressing their role in the industry’s darker side: are they part of the problem or part of the solution? 

The Lone Design Club, a collection of fashion and lifestyle brands with a focus on traceable, mindfully-made products, organised the Mindful Makers evening to discuss sustainability and its importance in the design world. 

Rachele Gonzaga from Swarovski spoke about the ways in which big brands can use their money and influence for good, describing the responsibilities that these companies have to the communities where they operate. Reducing pollution through clean water initiatives and improving worker empowerment through education are priorities for Swarovski, as well as a commitment to sustainable innovation.

Rachele also talked about her work as a personal stylist, where she encourages people to think about what difference they could be making at an individual level. 

I very much approve of Rachele’s method: she suggests looking through our wardrobes carefully, working out what we aren’t wearing and why, and having old pieces upcycled or altered to suit our current personal style. She also suggests buying less but buying better, looking for seasonless, versatile clothes. I’m not the biggest fan of a capsule wardrobe for myself, but I agree that we are all buying more than we need and we need to reflect on why we buy. 

Rachele also pointed out that no brand is going to be 100% ethical, so rather than worrying about not being perfect, we should support the brands that focus on the issues that are important to us, whether that’s worker’s rights, sustainable or recycled materials or zero-waste design. 

Olivia Pinnock, a freelance fashion journalist and lecturer, spoke about the ways that sustainable brands can communicate the benefits of the way they operate to consumers. There is compelling evidence that consumers do care about sustainability; there was a 30% increase from 2017 in online engagement during Fashion Revolution Week, with customers asking brands “Who Made My Clothes?” However there is also evidence that sustainability doesn’t attract customers, it retains them. The product has to be appealing in its own right. 

Olivia emphasised the importance of clear communication with a positive emphasis on the advantages of sustainability. She suggested creating a community of shared values, telling a story rather than talking down to people. 

She also explained the importance of transparency: it levels the playing field and improves customer trust, while greenwashing hurts everyone. Certification (e.g the FairTrade label) can be a good way of communicating a brand’s values to customers, but this can be expensive, so endorsements from sustainability community leaders can also be a good indicator of a brand’s commitment to its values. 

A selection of swatches from Offset Warehouse

LDC’s Mindful Makers event showcased brands that have sustainability at the core of what they do, while creating beautiful and desirable products. Bourgeois Boheme have sleek and stylish vegan shoes, with smart formal styles as well as summery sandals. Gung Ho's statement sweatshirts and printed wrap dresses are very Instagrammable, as well as carrying a serious message about wildlife. Ware London's jewellery is eye-catching and futuristic, with gorgeous sculptural pieces created from vegetable tanned leather, and recycled rubber and silver.

Shoes by Bourgeois Boheme

Sophie from Gung Ho, Alicia from Bourgeois Boheme and Emma from Ware London were joined for a Q&A session by Charlie from Offset Warehouse, who source ethically made and sustainable fabrics.  The panelists talked about how they hoped their products could help customers to shop in line with their values, and how their brands could encourage people to see sustainable fashion as an aspirational lifestyle choice. 

Jewellery by Ware London

Sophie described Gung Ho as a brand for people who are “more than just a pretty face.” Our clothes are one of the first things people notice about us, they ought to show our interests and the things we care about. Alicia spoke about the extra research she does to make sure she is using the best factories and materials. Shoe construction is really complex, but they are constantly working on ways to make their products as sustainable as possible. Emma is living her brand’s values by living mostly off-grid, but still questions every decision when it comes to her products. I agreed wholeheartedly when she said that we have lost our connections to our surroundings. Sustainable fashion that uses interesting and unusual materials, like Pinatex, eco-stone or bicycle inner tubes can bring our attention back to the origins of the things around us that we take for granted. 

Gung Ho's print dresses and embroidered sweatshirts

The panelists agreed that legislation was needed to stop the overproduction and waste generated by fast fashion, but sustainable fashion brands could point out the shortcomings of the high street by emphasising their own selling points. For example, advertising jewellery made from FairTrade silver will alert curious customers to the fact that other brands are not using FairTrade materials. 

Gung Ho's signature embroidered motifs

The issue of the high cost of sustainable fashion relative to high street fashion came up in the Q&A, with different panelists having interesting takes. Olivia pointed out that although prices are higher than the cheapest end of the high street, they are actually comparable to mid-range retailers, and considerably cheaper than designer labels. Drawing those customers with plenty of disposable income away from the high street would be a sensible marketing strategy for brands who specialise in sustainable luxury. Sophie sells her Gung Ho designs at different price points to attract a wider range of customers, and Rachele pointed out that buying a lot of cheap clothes that you aren’t satisfied with, rather than a few pieces you really love, works out more expensive in the long run.

LDC are running a pop-up concept store, showcasing innovative independent brands, from 4th-24th July in Covent Garden. If you’re curious about
sustainable fashion, this would be a great opportunity to meet designers and find out the stories behind their products. Imagining the stories behind clothes was what drew me to start shopping for vintage clothes as a teenager, and has driven my passion for costume making, so finding a community where the story is a key part of the product is a constant source of delight for me.

Fashioned From Nature at the V&A

The history of fashion is deeply personal, with cherished garments surviving for centuries to give us a unique glimpse of someone’s style; a real-life manifestation of high-fashion garments that look impossible, or at the very least highly improbable, if you study contemporary cartoons. It is also global, a complex network of threads that have connected continents along trade routes and supply chains for millennia. It is a history of the search for novelty as well as practicality, of brutality as well as beauty.

Fashioned from Nature at the V&A looks at the complexity of the history of fashion through its relationship with the natural world, how inspiration and exploitation have become two sides of the same coin, and how we can break away from the bad practices that make fashion the second most polluting industry in the world.

The exhibition opens with an exploration of the range of materials that people have used for clothing over the centuries. Some materials that we would associate with years past, like flax (traditionally grown in Northern Europe and spun into linen), are enjoying a revival as we start to look for fibres that require less water for growing and processing. Other materials like baleen (from the keratin plates in a whale’s mouth that enable them to sift microscopic plankton from sea water) which was used for corset boning have thankfully been replaced by modern alternatives like flexible steel, although not before whales were hunted almost to extinction.

The exhibition doesn’t shy away from presenting the problematic past of some of our favourite fabrics; the history of cotton cannot be separated from the history of slavery in the U.S, with cotton plantations in the southern states reliant on slave labour. Wealthy mill owners in the U.K. also benefited from cheap raw materials from our occupation of India, and the exploitation of poorly-treated factory workers during the Industrial Revolution.

We are also shown the ways in which we have plundered the natural world, desperate to capture some of its beauty for ourselves. From the birds of paradise killed and stuffed to adorn accessories, to the wild animals hunted for their fur, and even the silk moth larvae that make one of our favourite luxury fabrics. Iridescent beetle wings decorate diaphanous muslin dresses, they were sought-after and widely used despite their exotic provenance because they were “cheaper and more accessible than an emerald or a ruby” according to a curator from the Natural History Museum in a video that accompanies the exhibition.

The exhibition isn’t all doom and gloom though; there are beautiful examples of how the natural world has inspired more sustainable homages. Exquisite embroidery adorns jackets and waistcoats, and the popularity of bold prints is illustrated by 17th and 18th century textiles, as well as 21st century designer gowns. There are also historical examples of fabrics I’d assumed were modern innovations: I love Pinatex, a faux leather made from pineapple fibre, as a material for shoes, but the exhibition features a dress from the 1830s made from a pineapple fibre that is woven to resemble a fine cotton lawn.

As well as showcasing natural materials and textiles, Fashioned From Nature reveals the unforeseen side-effects of trying to come up with man-made substitutes: the water pollution and chemical poisoning that began on a large scale with the invention of aniline dyes in the 1850s, and continues to this day. It also demonstrates the global nature of the fashion industry by tracking the production of garments from raw materials to shop floor, and the global devastation that the fashion industry can cause, from deforestation to the draining of the Aral Sea.

The exhibition strikes a hopeful note with inspiring examples of fashion innovation that combine great design with thoughtful production. A vast array of fashion textiles, from specially moulded sneaker parts to knitting yarn, can be made from reclaimed fabric waste. Elsewhere, designers are turning other kinds of post-consumer waste into high fashion, a great example being a strikingly chic Salvatore Ferragamo ensemble made a fabric derived from citrus fibre.  Other design collectives are synthesising brand new materials from organic sources, like Bolt Threads bio-engineered “spider silk” and mushroom leather.

Knitting and crochet have always been great ways of producing zero-waste clothing, and designers Katie Jones and Unmade eliminate wasteful overproduction by making their knitwear to order. Fashioned From Nature makes it clear to us that the apparent over abundance of clothing is an illusion that cannot be maintained forever, given the looming spectre of climate change and irreversible environmental degradation. However, the exhibition never suggests that this means we have to give up our love of clothes, or our desire for beautiful things.

My favourite piece in the exhibition was the most beautiful piece of zero-waste clothing I have ever seen. Made during World War Two from strips of salvaged parachute silk, this exquisitely delicate blouse is made from thin strips of fabric, embroidered together to create a fitted shape. Its style is a tantalising mix of a demure shape and daringly sheer fabric, and as I stared at it my imagination ran away with me and I started thinking about the woman who made it. Was she making it for a special occasion, waiting for a sweetheart to return? Was she having to do this painstaking work by poor light in the evenings, tired out from war work? Creating something so soft and light from an object that was part of the destructive machinery of war is the best example I can think of for the transformative power of fashion; we all have to make sure we use this power for good.

Bespoke Bras: sustainable luxury to make you look and feel fabulous!

At a time of year that's become synonymous with frenzied shopping and last-minute panic-buying, I thought I'd write about sustainable luxury that rewards the patient conscious consumer: beautiful bras that are made to order right here in London, using sustainably sourced or recycled materials!

Lovely lingerie may seem like a luxury, but as everyone who has worn a bra can confirm, comfort and correct fit are a necessity! A great bra can enhance the look of your clothes, make you feel fabulous (even if you're the only one who sees it), and is all but essential for exercising. If the prices of bespoke bras seem expensive, can I gently suggest you take a closer look at a bra? All those component parts are painstakingly pieced together by people, not machines, with pinpoint accuracy to ensure a prefect fit. This is skilled labour, and I want the people who sew my bras to be fairly compensated for their work. 

If you're interested in the lingerie industry, or have burning questions ("Why isn't X available in my size? Why is Y so expensive, when Z is so cheap?"), I recommend checking out The Lingerie Addict, and following its founder Cora Harrington on Twitter. She has been writing about lingerie for over a decade, and she has great insights into manufacture and materials as well as trends. Cora is an advocate for appreciating craftsmanship and financially compensating artisans accordingly, while making it clear that we shouldn't feel guilty for wanting to have beautiful things. That sounds like the perfect argument for sustainable luxury to me! 

I've treated myself to very different styles of bra, one frilly and fanciful, the sort of bra that you want to show off because it's just so *pretty* and two that are practical but stylish, and the sort of bra that you want to show off because it feels barely-there but it's so supportive! Of course, even the fanciest bra needs to be comfortable and well-fitting (otherwise I won't feel fancy, just annoyed), and a practical bra needs to have some flair about it that elevates it above a basic bralet.

I had been skeptical about a bralet being supportive enough for my (usually) 32DD bust, but when I saw that Lara Intimates made a cute range of soft-cup bras in specific sizes rather than just 'S', 'M' and 'L', and offered a fitting service, I was hopeful I would be able to find something suitable. 

Lara Intimates is run by two LCF graduates, who crowdfunded their first collection and run their business out of a studio in Soho. When I went in for my fitting I chatted to them about their business plan; having their bra designs made by a specialised factory would have required a minimum order for every style, in every size and every colour, and they didn't have the money for that sort of initial outlay. By making bespoke they can form a better idea of their customer base, which style, size and colour combinations are the most successful, and use their money wisely. 

I was able to try on samples in my size - different from the size I would usually buy for an underwired bra (as I mentioned in my blog post about ethical swimwear, it's always best to take sizing advice from small businesses who know their product really well) and the main difficulty was narrowing my choice down to two styles! These bras would be great for yoga or Pilates, if a very structured sports bra feels restrictive, and I was thrilled to finally find a comfortable halterneck bra that will work under some low-backed vintage 70s sundresses I have in my wardrobe. The bras are made from deadstock lingerie fabrics, and with prices ranging between £55 and £72, they are a great investment as they are so versatile. 

Buttress and Snatch's marketing focuses on pin-up glamour, but their sustainability credentials are pretty good too: their bras are made to order in a workshop in London, often using vintage fabrics, so I'd say that makes them more sustainable than a lot of brands, with the added bonus that their made-to-order business model means they can offer a really diverse range of sizes. They have a really specific brand aesthetic, and I think it's important that we don't see sustainable or ethical fashion as a "style" in its own right. At the end of the day, people aren't going to spend their hard-earned money on a piece of clothing just because it's sustainable, they are going to buy something that looks great, and works with their personal style. 

Buttress and Snatch offer several different styles of "patchwork" bra, made from offcuts of vintage fabric. Each one is unique, and the bra that was specially made for me is a kaleidoscope of floral prints, trimmed with beautifully soft leavers lace. I bought my usual size and the fit is spot on; despite the fancy detailing the overall cup shape has a smooth finish, so it disappears under all but the clingiest clothes.

Do I *need* such a delightfully frivolous bra? Technically, no. But living sustainably doesn't have to mean denying yourself fancy things, it means making better choices and treasuring your fancy things for years to come.  With prices ranging from £70 to £150+ these bras aren't going to be everyday purchases for most people, but I also think it's really important that ethically run small businesses can be part of the luxury goods market too. If you have the money for something with a designer label, wouldn't you rather have something unique made just for you? I firmly believe that clothes should help you to the best version of yourself, so buying bras that have made me feel fabulous without having to compromise on my principles is money well spent!