Oh dear.

One of my interests is in eco fashion. It’s one of the reasons I got into vintage and thrift or charity shopping in the first place. It always seemed so incredibly wasteful to buy so many clothes that then just get discarded when people are tired of them. I used to write about this far more, but I kind of ran out of steam really. I’m interested, but it’s not my every day life.

Then I saw this story. I saw it tweeted on Monday night by Vintage Secret. It’s the story of a Greenwich vintage store, 360 Vintage, who provided some of the ELEVEN DRESSES used by designer Gary Harvey to make Livia Firth’s “eco friendly” red carpet frock.

This picture is from her Twitter stream in order not to annoy Getty Images. You can see far nicer ones on her blog for Vogue.

My understanding is that most, if not all of the dresses used were already perfectly wearable. Livia proudly talks about how the dresses date from the era of the Kings Speech, thus making the dress super relevant to her husbands current Oscars triumph.

*Go back and read that again*

Yes, that’s right. 11 vintage dresses from the 1930s were hacked up and “upcycled” to make ONE frankly so-so gown for Livia to wear on the red carpet.

I have no particular problem with the word “upcycled”, it’s a bit stupid but it doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is the concept that turning 11 wearable dresses into 1 is suddenly green and eco friendly. It isn’t, it’s wasteful, and that is the antithesis of “green”.

I have great respect for Livia’s attempt to raise the profile of eco designers by wearing their gowns on the red carpet, but I just can’t support this.

Yes. If you buy a dress you can do whatever you damn well please with it. It would be nice if everyone had a bit of respect for particularly interesting pieces of fashion history. It would also be nice if they had the skill not to make a beautiful piece of workmanship into an unwearable mess. But at the end of the day it’s your dress and you do what you want with it.

It’s very, very, sad that 11 1930s gowns died to make this dress, but that’s not my real issue. My real issue is dressing it up as Eco Fashion.

Eco Fashion should be about making clothes for people to wear that suits their style, whatever that may be, without wasting resources or actively damaging the environment.

Whatever way you look at it turning 11 dresses into 1 is a waste of resources. Not as wasteful as making a new one from scratch, but hardly green. 11 people could have worn 11 dresses, now only 1 can, and it’ll probably never be worn again.

That’s not green, it’s tragic.

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It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these spotlights.

To be honest nothing was inspiring me that much. But yesterday I had a press release for Nancy Dee drop into my inbox.

I popped off to her website, and found it full of pretty retro style dresses, all made out of stretchy, comfortable jersey fabrics. To be honest I’m pretty sure I’d visited before, and then forgotten all about it. My bookmarks aren’t very organised and as most of my wardrobe is thrifted I often forget to window shop!

Nancy Dee was formed in 2008 by sisters Tamsin and Seraphina Davis, who recognised there was a need to bridge the gap between style, comfort and ethics. All their jersey fabrics are natural, organic or sustainable, made from bamboo, soy bean or organic cotton. Their products are produced in SA-8000:2001 certified factories, meaning they’re checked for a range of ethical practices including the use of child labour, and fair compensation for workers. They also look beyond the production of the clothes to their general working practices, using online lookbooks and 100% degradable plastic packaging as well as promoting ethical practices to a new generation of design students.

That’s all lovely, of course, but what about the CLOTHES?

Well, they’re pretty lovely too. The Spring Summer collection takes inspiration from “1950s rockabilly with a twist of quintessentially English beach holidays”. That’s all well and good, and bonus marks for use of the word “quintessentially” but what that means in practice is light, easy to wear jersey pieces, perfect for Summer, that mean you don’t have to sacrifice style and slob around in shapeless sacks and flip flops.

My feeling is that probably in the UK these are the kind of dresses that I would like to have for days when I wanted something easy to wear, but that where they would really come into their own is for travelling. I love jersey to travel in, it’s comfortable and hard to crease. Fling it in your suitcase and it comes out the other end virtually ready to wear, add a belt for definition and structure, and take it off to slouch comfortably in car seats and aeroplanes.

My favourites are the pencil dress styles, ending just below the knee they’re perfect for a smart day time look or for hot Summer nights.

Kelly - Sea Green - £69

Xenia - Navy/Hot Pink - £65

I also have a soft spot for this gorgeous maxi dress which has an elegant 30s vibe.

Gina - Print - £69

The collection also includes playsuits, mini dresses and full skirted sun dresses. You can view the whole lot, and find out more about Nancy Dee, by visiting the website.

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Everything we make eventually wears out.

I’m sure when you get rid of stuff at home you think about what to do with it. Recycling your day to day rubbish and acting bemused about what on earth you’re supposed to do with that old refrigerator or worn out rug.

But what about fire hoses? Office furniture? Or even Air Traffic Control strips? What the hell do you do with them?

I bring you ELVIS & KRESSE…..

Elvis & Kresse was founded in 2007 by James Henrit and Kresse Wesling. They started in London, but now collect this kind of waste right across the UK. Mostly using old fire hoses, they clean them up and turn them into beautiful bags, belts and other lovely little things to sell on, then they give 50% of their profits back to the Fire Fighters Charity.

To date they have recycled approximately 45 tonnes of waste in this way and their dedication to reuse extends to all areas of the business, even their packaging is recycled or reclaimed. Their labels are old air traffic control strips, the string old coffee sacks and they even re use old shoe boxes as packaging.

Box Bag - £120

West End Belt - £36.50

Their normal range is full of gorgeous, functional, everyday pieces, with a hell of a story, but recently they have partnered with art-eco-fashion brand ISSI to produce an Arts collection. Launched at London Fashion Week EstEthica exhibition in February the collection has bought together International artists Lothar Götz, Olivier Millagou, Paul Morrison and Simon Periton to create a range of accessories that are beautiful, practical AND eco friendly.

My favourites from the collection

The Beelzebag by Simon Periton £300

Lothar Gotz Clutch Bag £220

Olivier Millagou Ladies Purse £120

This range is considerably more design led than the regular products featuring bags lined with parachute silk printed with images of volcanoes and the delicate yellow fly wing on the bag shown above. The Arts range is due to be launched at Selfridges in May if you have the funds and the desire to get your hands on a piece of recycled art for your wardrobe, or appears to be available on the Elvis & Kresse website right now.

Read more about the collection and the artists at the ISSI website

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