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Concious fashion - day two report

organic | 15.02.2005 12:57 | Ecology | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | London

The second day of conscious fashion week looked at the environmental impact of the clothing industry, be it from the use of chemicals in production, growing, and the waste inherent in the fashion industry.

Those who have attended other events at the rampART will know that the hall can change quite a bit but the make over for monday was quite a shock with the hall almost devided in half with a packing case cat walk, an industrial sewing machine as an info-table covered in leaflets from No Sweat and the like and a models changing room.

The evening started with somebody from Rising Tide London talked a little about the consequences of petrochemical use and the fabrics and dyes made out of oil. The discussion that followed was much wider ranging it didn't stick to the theme of fashion which is to be expected.

Simon Ferrigno from Pesticide Action Network talked about the environmental and social problems with cotton production and the positive impacts of organic cotton and hemp. He also showed a film called 'Moral Fibres'.

DJ Suingue from Brazil layed down some beats while the models prepared and then the first of free shows began. The first designer from 'Organic Attire' talked briefly about organic cotton which is produced without the use of synthetic chemical fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators or defoliants and then the lights droped and the catwalk was lit up for the models to strut their stuff. The Organic Attire collection looked out of place at the rampART, clean, respectable and imaculate.

The second collection was from 'Natures Mistress'. The designer talked about trying to add 'responsibility to frivolity' with sustainable organic fibres produced sweatfree in Nepal. Her talk was followed by a show of her collection which included a rather nice hoody ;-)

Funky Gandhi was the final collection and after a brief technical interlude as cables and data where matched from machine to machine, there followed an introduction into Funky Gandhi's attempts to bring products that are
conscious of people and conscious of the environment, offering the consumer an ethical choice and to contribute to the global civil movement's struggle to create a world that makes sense. This boiled down to a collecton of nice t'shirts which were then presented in high energy style by the models herded in from the squat next door and accompanied by a power point presentation for those whose eyes were too poor or too slow to track the designs on the fast moving models.

Anyway, looking forward to the reast of the week and the shows and will report back with any more hot fashion tips if I spot any more hoodys.

organic