Autumn Collection from Nomads

I visited the Nomads stand when I went to Pure London last year and was really impressed with their interesting prints and embellishments (as well as their 'clothing without compromise' principles). I particularly liked their coats, but can't justify when I have a similar coat already! However there is a patchwork pinafore dress I have my eye on (though I can't decide if I prefer the purple or the green!), from this collection - and I have a couple of their drapey cardigans that have been a good buy as an extra layer in cooler weather.








Do go online and take a look: either view the whole collection on their own site, or some items at Pinterest and also peruse their ethical policies.

Cake and Fabric

What could be a better combination? And happening on my birthday too!

Ethical fabric sellers, Offset Warehouse, are holding a garden party on 31st August in Hatch End, with designer fabrics from as low as £2. Go to www.offsetwarehouse.com and look under Resources - Events.
 

Dress Agencies

I was recently tempted into 'dress agency' Shimto in St Albans - I had avoided it previously thinking it would be designer prices, as the sign outside states that they sell your designer garments for you. However I was greatly surprised, and will visit again! Buying second-hand has to be better for the environment than the millions of tonnes of clothing that go into landfill each year, and I suspect a lot of designer stuff only gets worn a few times!                        










I picked up a lovely Skunkfunk dress for only £27.  The stripes are so flattering as they take the eye across the body and miss out the lumpy bits! It's shown here with my 'happy beads' brought from Cape Town by friends, that happen to pick out the colours in the (now) retro print.





I love the little details like the badge on the bottom and the leather label in the back neck.

And I was even more delighted when looking up Skunkfunk on the internet to discover that they are a very environmentally-friendly company with GOTS certification and a commitment to improving the social conditions in the factories which produce their collections. That's great when Topshop, Gap and Walmart are still failing to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord following the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April in which over 1000 people died, and others including Matalan and Benetton are refusing to pay compensation to victims despite their garments being manufactured in the factory.

They are based in Spain, so I am looking forward to Skunkfunk opening a wider online store so we can actually buy their clothes in this country!

Choolips Dress

I have had lots of positive comments when wearing my Choolips dress recently - and it's been warm enough to get some of my dresses out of the cupboard this year! It's a nice flattering shape as it skims across the tummy.

It was made in Ghana - you pay upfront so the dyers, printers and sewers can afford to make the dress, and then have the excitement of awaiting its arrival. I didn't get as many posts about its progress as I had been led to believe so did wonder if I had been taken for a ride, but the company is now confirmed as bona fide - and I saw an example of their latest collection at the Ethical Fashion Forum last month: beautiful space-dyed fabric in colours of indigo and deep red. The prices are now a bit higher - mine was a special offer as they were starting out - but worth it for a special event.

Have a look at www.choolips.com

Fashion Loving Older Woman - Socially & Environmentally Responsible

Are you a FLOWSER like me? That is a Fashion Loving, Older Woman who is Socially and Environmentally Responsible? And how difficult that can be!

The Deputy Editor writes in July's Vogue of reaching her 40th birthday and concerns about her wardrobe. While I admire her decision to continue wearing the mini-skirts she loves, the article did raise my hackles! Partly because she can afford to spend more on one item (such as a Miu Miu skirt at £420) than I can probably spend in a whole year, but also because she's only forty for goodness sake - what does she think it is like at 50?!

There appears to be a gap in the market - I and friends of my age don't like the increasingly frumpy offers from M&S or BHS, but while we adore some of Topshop's clothes don't want to feel we might be accused of looking like the clichéd 'mutton dressed as lamb'. And actually the hemlines are a bit short for us! Plus how do you cope with a body shape that seems to differ from day to day, let alone month to month - and certainly isn't a 'standard size' anything?

By our age we are also aware of the wider implications of the clothes we wear - a media industry that encourages even young children to look like sex symbols, feeds teenage neurosis with the associated risks of anorexia and bulimia and the whole fashion world that creates fast, cheap fashion resulting in horrendous industrial accidents such as Rana Plaza. Not to mention what we are doing to the planet using up oil resources to make textiles and dumping tons of clothes into landfill or onto developing countries, thereby wrecking their own textile industries, in the supposed name of 'aid'.

Having been studying for the last two years for a Foundation Degree in Fashion and Textile Design - which has been a wonderful creative experience, and my classmates have been super at welcoming this 'older woman' as part of the class - I had wondered about writing a blog for people like me. Well, Emily Sheffield, your article in Vogue has pushed me into actually doing it!