It's Not Easy Being Green

I've gone green! And not just my hair. It's been hard to miss the recent commentary on 'fast fashion', spurred on no doubt by Jeremy Scott's junk food inspired Moschino triumph: an a/w collection so ubiquitous, it's been seen everywhere and on everyone, and we're still only just in the first throes of spring. Even the commentary the collection has sparked is beginning to feel like old news. 

The lines between the symbolism of those golden arches and the immediate release of selected pieces (the t-shirt graced the cover of a magazine within days) are easily drawn but no matter how straight forward the analysis, when clothes are out of season before the season even begins, it brings to the fore the acceleration of our constant need for what's next, what's new. Of course, the super fast Jeremy Scott release fed off this desire and was a marketing dream.

I'm guilty of poring over the latest offerings each fashion week and feeling a sudden need to completely overhaul my wardrobe. I need that new shape, that new texture, that new print. But I don't really need it, I just want it and it's good to break this cycle of playing catch up and always chasing what's next. Who says designers have their best ideas on schedule every season anyway? (Not to mention cruise collections, pre-season collections, diffusion lines etc etc). I admire it when a label takes a step back for a season and breaks away from the grind of churning out collection after collection. It implies a respect for the quality of their creative output.

So how exactly have I gone green? Well I've not installed solar panels or started composting but I have begun to look at my wardrobe differently. For a while now I've been conscious not to buy for the sake of buying, which has streamlined my wardrobe considerably, but now I'm also buying more second hand and vintage, making more from scratch, and altering/reworking more to breathe new life into pieces I don't wear anymore. For example, in the outfit below the t-shirt and hat are vintage, the coat is around 3 years old, and the skirt is altered (you can see it in its original incarnation HERE). 

don't particularly like the term 'upcycling', it conjurs up images of peg bags made from old tea towels, but the idea behind it is solid - work with what you have. To come back to Jeremy Scott again and bring this full circle, his pre-fall debut made reference to the Moschino of seasons gone by,  revisiting that brash gold logo. Increasingly established brands are looking to their heritage to influence their future and if that's not reason enough to reuse and recycle, in a fashion sense, I don't know what is. 


Coat: Miss Selfridge, T-shirt: Cow Vintage, Turtle neck: H&M,
Skirt: Topshop (customised), Socks: Puma, Boots: New Look,
Hat: Cow Vintage