LFW designers use platform to champion environmental causes

There was a finely tuned balance of style and substance at London Fashion
Week, as designers used the platform to be vocal about issues prevailing
the industry at large. Dame Vivienne Westwood was perhaps the most
prolific, with models outfitted as protestors, urging the audience to buy
better, buy less, a message Westwood has tireless been trumpeting for the
greater part of a decade.

The British Fashion Council celebrated their Positive Fashion collaboration
with BBC Earth and Mother of Pearl with a cocktail reception and film
preview at Spencer House. In the first event of its kind, this
collaboration brings together the global reach of BBC Earth and the
influence of fashion through a BBC Earth x British Fashion Council x Mother
of Pearl talks series with industry visionaries and thought leaders at
London Fashion Week.

Caroline Rush, CEO, British Fashion Council said in a statement: “At the
British Fashion Council we recognise that now more than ever is a time to
highlight the importance of pursuing Positive Fashion in the industry and
keep it at the top of everyone’s agenda to drive change.”

At the International Fashion Showcase, where xx Dutch designer Duran
Lantink presented a collection straight from the sale bins questioning the
permanent state of sale and discount in the fashion industry, casting a
critical eye on the phenomena of Black Friday and the resulting sales
riots. He also present 0 percent Duran, Lantink’s brand which creates
fashion without production.

But not all green initiatives stem directly from brands. On the last day of
LFW UK politicians have called on the Government to change the law to
require fashion retailers to perform due diligence across their supply
chains and have recommended tax breaks for companies that comply with
environmental and social standards – while at the same time, punishing
firms that don’t. “Fashion shouldn’t cost the earth. But the fashion
industry has marked its own homework for too long,” says the group of
cross-parliamentary MPs, in a report published today by the Environmental
Audit Committee (EAC).