It's not every day you get to sit down with a proper fashion world icon and pick his brains for free! Dear listeners, you're in for a treat this week, as Clare meets the one and only Jimmy Choo. This magic name in shoe design is now professor - he runs his own fashion school, the Jimmy Choo Academy in London's Mayfair…
You might have noticed this idea gaining momentum. Ecocide refers to the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term. The idea is to criminalise it. And it's happening! It's become national law in several countries with many more discussing it. In March, the EU passed a law that criminalises actions 'comparable to ecocide' - a revolutionary legal development; the first law of its kind to be adopted by a political entity with substantial global influence. In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa submitted a proposal to the International Criminal Court for recognition of ecocide as a crime.
What does all this mean for fashion? Listen to find out!
Okay, brace yourselves...
Brands love to set sustainability goals. But what if it's all nonsense? What if net zero, the obsession with carbon, and the idea that renewables are taking over from fossil fuels, are all part of a fake green fairy tale that we tell ourselves because the alternative is too difficult to imagine. Or that corporations tell us so that they can keep on with business as usual.
WTAF? We know. It's... a lot.
Is it true? You decide, after listening to this week's guest.
Carole Collet on the role of a fashion designer today. Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.
Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? Program living systems to produce bespoke products? And, how can we build a truly regenerative system in place of the current regenerative one?
Happy Secondhand September! Six years ago Oxfam UK came up with the idea of using September to encourage people to: "Shop second hand to take a stance against fast fashion and dress for a fairer world." They say it's a moment to come together “to choose a more planet-friendly way to shop, and dress for the world you want to see." This week, Clare sits down with model-thrifter-filmmaker-activist Eunice Olumide, ahead of her walking in Oxfam's LFW show.
Here are some questions for you: How much is enough? How can creatives incorporate the idea of sufficiency in their output? If you make physical objects, what does it really mean to be sustainable in your practice? And, how can you, as my guest this week, Irish fashion designer, artist and maker Richard Malone, puts it, "do your own thing and stick to it" in the context of fashion's relentless push for newness?
Why does fashion have such a problem in accepting all bodies they way they are, and recognising the beauty in different shapes and sizes? I know, I know, we’ve heard it all before, yet depressingly little changes.
Our guest this week has had enough! Self-described as “that body morphing b*tch”, Michaela Starck is a super-talented London-based Aussie dreamboat who’s beautiful work includes her own glorious self, as well as Paris-worthy, bow-bedecked frillies.
White sands and turquoise waters. Surf breaks. Rugby. Fiji is rightly famous for these things, it’s also an international garment-manufacturing country with a thriving independent design community, mainly focused on the local market and the Fijian diaspora. Meet Ellen Whippy Knight, founder of Fiji Fashion Week.
From Slow Fashion Season to ReMake’s 90-day No New Clothes challenge to the Rule of 5, more of us are looking for ways to circuit-break bad fashion habits. There’s a real movement going on with conscious fashionistas sharing what’s worked for them when it comes to slowing down, buying and wasting less.
Our first guest for 2024 is Jenna Flood, a slow fashion stylist who’s been sharing tips and tricks with her followers around what she calls her Wardrobe Freeze…
In November 2023, in the run up to COP28, Gregory Andrews stationed himself outside Australia's federal parliament, and staged a hunger strike for climate action. His demands included that the government stop permitting the logging of native forests, and end subsidies to fossil fuels companies. He lasted 16 days before ending up in hospital. This is his story.
Living so close to the ocean means connection to Nature is innate; it’s also an important part of Pacific culture. As this week’s guest Flora Vano says. “Nature talks to us, she tells us when something is wrong. These are things you might not get from a book; it’s not about what you’re taught at school. You have to learn it the way we learn it from the islands.”
Reports of the end of textile manufacturing in so-called consuming countries are exaggerated. We've still got it! Albeit on a smaller scale than when our parents were young. Wherever in the world you are listening, this week’s guest Meriel Chamberlin wants you to look around and recognise what you already have in terms of local skills, manufacturing & R&D capacity. Australia, for example, produces some of the world's best fibre, and there are still production facilities domestically for most stages of the supply chain. Find a gap? Might be worth working to close it…
