Ethical fashion show at UK Aware Olympia

The 2010 Daisy Green Magazine catwalk show at UK Aware was styled by eco stylist Lupe Castro and showed a variety of ethical designers.

Ekosense designs a capsule range of organic and sustainable casual clothing inspired by the legendary art of Barbara Hepworth and the rough seas of the Cornish coast. The colours are muted with interesting sculptural elements and twists. On the catwalk was the charcoal and teal striped Suzyloo flick skirt in bamboo jersey with its roll down yoga waistband, teamed with the Lazy Lizzie long sleeved bamboo tee in teal. The Lazy Lizzie was working hard as it made a second appearance in taupe. Loved the long pale silver twisted wrap made from soya bean fibres with a touch of cashmere- a great design to hide the tummy. The strappy cotton cambric smock top underneath the wrap was from puritystyle.com and was worn here as a dress.

Puritystyle .com is a women's and children’s organic and fair trade clothing boutique based in Farnham, Surrey. Other designs on the catwalk from Purity were the Luna dress splash print in bright pink and blue, and the green and brown Komodo Prism dress in printed cotton voile.

Izzy Lane provided the knitwear, ethically made from wool predominantly from their own rare breed of Wensleydale and Shetland sheep, most of which have been saved from slaughter. Her fawn Shetland fringe straight skirt was styled with a Susiemaroon “Eyes to the front” pink and brown belt. So called due to the embroidered pair of spectacles design on the front. Susiemaroon sources the leather from a family run Scottish tannery who specialise in tanning Wild deerskin. The hides used would otherwise be discarded as a by-product of the venison industry and be sent to landfill. These quirky belts are available through the ethical online store Puredesigncompany.co.uk. The smokey white Theia clutch with ruched leather and bow detail was from Bobelle and made of eel skin leather - a by-product of the food industry in South Korea. Eel skin leather is remarkably soft; you just want to keep stroking the bags.

To show a bride who wants an eco wedding what to wear, Tammam had a variety of creations. The fascinators were the creation of Sophia Couture and the ballerina “Rizzo” pumps in soft white with blue contrast elastic details were from Terra Plana. These pumps are lined with eco memory foam for superior comfort, while the recycled sole and vegetable tanned leather add to the sustainability.

Urban Buzz showed a short bridal dress named “Odette”, a white woven frill dress with silver swan print. The fabric has self coloured stripes and is 100% organic cotton with a 100% cotton lining. The dress was matched with pink and white handmade clog sandals from Maguba.com.

Urban Buzz also wowed us with their bright green semi-transparent summer Lily dress in 100% cotton for pleats and bottom layer and 100% polyester for top layer; their cute blue Primrose Hill jersey dress with contrast in cream and rose print in 100% Organic cotton; and their Crocus green top with empire line, short semi puff sleeves and pleat detail down the front.

And not forgetting the boys:

Most of the men’s designs were from Credau, an original clothing label using 100% natural cotton.
Smart graphite trousers were worn with a graphite slim jacket and Izzy Lane’s Wensleydale striped jumper.
The slim fit 2 button jacket in petroleum with a touch of graphite on the front was teamed with graphite shorts and a BAM polo shirt.

BAM produces bamboo clothing. Fabric made from bamboo not only feels soft and smooth, it absorbs and evaporates sweat, is antistatic so no unwanted clinginess, is breathable in hot weather and keeps you warm in the cold. Quite a wonder fabric and on the catwalk was shown as the male model’s ocean blue t-shirt and ocean blue polo shirt. One shirt not shown but I think guy’s would love is the reversible two tops in one- one side plain the other stripey –less to pack and you don’t have to think too much on what to wear.

Thank you Lupe for showing how ethical clothing can look great.

Images taken by Nico Dattani.

Models hired through Cosmic Model Management.