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I am determined to get some last minute sales shopping in as we enter the Autumn/Winter 2007 season. With that in mind I ventured onto Equa boutique’s website and not only have they got some fab new fashions in for the chilly seasons but some great sale offers. Here is a small selection of my favourite items (sale and non-sale). Black is back and hides a multitude of sins, so if you are not a fan of this colour, I apologise for the selection!
Equa sell a range of organic (Soil Association or SKAL certified), fairly traded, fairtrade (Fairtrade Foundation certified), environmentally friendly (using azo-free dyes), UK made (supporting the UK fashion industry and the reduction of greenhouse gases from all those travel miles), recycled (reducing landfill pressure), vegan and hemp (preventing the reliance on heavily irrigated cotton) clothing and accessories. The ethical credentials of products are identified with easy symbols so you know what you are getting.
1) Ciel Striped Tee, cut from £45 to £20, organic and fairly traded.
2) Matt & Nat Vicious, £90, fairly traded and vegan.
3) Edun Sage Dole Skin Trousers in Black, £130, fairly traded.
4) Edun Chandelier Tee, £42.
5) Wildlife Works New Grandpa, cut from £56 to £40, organic and fairly traded.
6) Stewart + Brown Cinch Skirt, cut from £52 to £45, organic and fairly traded.
Eco-stylist, Dawn Mellowship, puts a spring in your step this summer, with five outfits inspired by this season’s flowery trend.Summer is here yet again and we are all patiently waiting for it to stop raining, but just because the weather is gloomy, it doesn’t mean we have to be. Fashion is taking its cue from nature and flowery garments and accessories are a sure fire way to boost your mood and remind you of lazy sunny summer days. If the thought of flowers sends you running for the hills, you can inject an element of floral rather than going the whole hog and causing unsuspecting passers by to mistake you for a field full of blossom. Ethical fashion is all about protecting the environment and people, so it makes sense to purchase flowery fashion that causes minimal impact to the planet. To get you started I have chosen five outfits that will keep you cool and leave you looking blooming marvellous! Most of this items can be purchased online at The Natural Store, or via the actual labels themselves.
1) All in the yellow (as seen above)
Anatomy Muslin Lace Camisole Top, £75.00 – made from organic muslin.
Emmeline 4 Re Box Pleat Skirt – Honey Rose, £75.00 – made from vintage, reclaimed 100% cotton fabric. Snood Shrug, £39.00 – handmade in England from reclaimed and vintage wool.
Terra Plana Goa Off-white, £75.00 – recycled, vegetable tanned natural hemp.
2) Party in pansy
Enamore Pansy Cotton Shift Dress, £150.00 – made from organic cotton sateen certified by SKAL.
Beyond Skin Larry B Pointed Toe Kitten Heel, £167 – made from purple satin.
Bourgeois Bohéme Sandy Small Beige, £32 – textile with silver metallic tinge.
3) Yummy flowery mummy
Enamore Short-Sleeved Kimono Top, £65.00 – handmade in England in hemp/tencel fabric.
Emmeline 4 Re Midnight Forest Skirt, £75.00 – made from vintage, reclaimed 100% cotton fabric.
Charmoné Monarch Ribbon Tie-Up Flat Cool Green Blue, £149.00 – made from Italian microfibre faux leather.
4) Short, psychedelic and sexy
Emmeline 4 Re Unique Neck Tie Blouse French Lilac, £60.00 – made from vintage, reclaimed 100% polyester fabric.
Ciel Denim Shorts With Waist Tie, £130.00 – Denim, My Wardrobe.
Terra Plana Juniper Shoe, £95.00 – recycled vegetable tanned leather.
5) Floaty Romantic
Pardess Frenchie Bustier Camisole, £115 – 100% organic cotton.
Pardess Petal Skirt, £170 – 100% organic cotton.
Hetty Rose Yuki Vintage Kimono Shoes, £320.00 – vintage kimono.
Sarah Donegan Marry Handbag, Tea Pot Lace, £120 – made from vintage textiles and trims, The Green Apple.
Dawn Mellowship is the UK’s first online eco stylist offering a range of styling services and online ethical fashion resources. No matter what the occasion, Dawn will find some fabulous ethical fashion that suits your style and personality. Her website can be found at ecostylist.co.uk.
Finding an ethical dress to wear for a night out might seem a bit more challenging than finding daywear, but here to the rescue, as ever, I have managed to source a selection of beautiful ethical dresses that can be worn in the daytime or the evening. Three of them are made from 100% organic cotton, which is fantastic, because the growing of regular cotton uses 25% of all insecticides and almost $3 billion worth of pesticides every single year. Between 1 million and 5 million pesticide poisonings take place every year, leading to 20,000 reported deaths among agricultural workers (Environmental Justice Foundation). Pesticides also contaminate rivers around the world. Organic cotton uses natural pesticides (such as a mixture of chilli, garlic and soap), is handpicked and often rain fed, which is a much more environmentally friendly option. The other three dresses use alternative fabrics, preventing the reliance on cotton, which uses up precious water resources - six pints of water are required to produce one cotton bud. Global cotton consumption has been estimated to be responsible for 2.6 per cent of the world's water use (EJF). Bamboo (used in the Ecoganik dress) is a fast growing grass that is organically grown. It is also antibacterial and antifungal. The Debbi Little Parachute dress is made from recycled parachutes, so prevents wastage and the Enamore dress incorporates innovative fabrics such as hemp and tencel. Now all you have to do is choose which ones to go for! 1) Katherine Hamnett Cynthia Dress, 100% organic cotton, £239.99, Katherine Hamnett. 2) Camilla Norrback Moa Dress, creme, 100% organic cotton, 1275 kr, Mint and Vintage. 3) Ecoganik Bamboo Amy Kimono Dress in Paradise, 95% bamboo, 5% spandex, Couture Candy. 4) Debbi Little Parachute Dress, made from 1950s parachutes, £240, Equa Clothing. 5) Ciel Sophia Dress, 100% organic cotton, £162, My Wardrobe. 6) Enamore Eva Dress in black with vintage detail, 55% hemp, 45% tencel and vintage, £150, Enamore. 
Ethical fashion is making big waves with brands like Kuyichi and People Tree having concessions in Topshop. M&S offering a fairtrade range, Dorothy Perkins selling organic tees and The Clothes Show Live having a section dedicated to ethical fashion this year. Anya Hindmarch created a stir with her 'I'm Not A Plastic Bag Bag.' People seemed to be more concerned about its fashion rather than eco-credentials, but some would say that any publicity for ethical living is good publicity. Ethical and stylish were once far from synonymous, but those days are but a distant memory and as an ethical stylist, it's my job to find fantastic ethical fashion buys.
I am off to the Daily Mail for a ethical fashion photo shoot this Wednesday. I'll let you know what day to buy the paper (when I know that is!) if you would like to see this feature and marvel at the beautiful ethical clothes.
For now, to save you scouring the web for hours, tearing out your hair, wondering why you can only find T-shirts with 'Let's Go Green' (or such like) on, here are my top three ethical (I heart) brands. I will be adding more favourites over the coming weeks, months and years.
1) Ciel - The wonderful Ciel, firm celebrity favourite, was brought to us by Sarah Ratty. Sarah's mother was a fashion lecturer at the Brighton College of Art and following in her footsteps, Sarah developed a taste for fashion. After considering and pursuing various paths Sarah finally embraced her creativity and entered the realm of fashion design (luckily for us). Prior to Ciel Sarah developed "Conscious Earthwear," which was first sold in Brown's, South Molton Street.
Sarah designs for ladies who love fashion and care about protecting the environment, recognising that the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. Ciel clothes are created from beautiful eco-fabrics and the production process conforms to labour laws stipulated at Labour Behind the Label.
If you are wondering what to wear this summer take a look at the V-Neck Smock Dress (as seen on the left). In line with the Foho trend, why not team it with some black tights, or faded denim skinny jeans and a pristine handbag. Hurrah for Ciel!
2) Kuyichi - For the young and uber stylish boys and girls out there, Kuyichi is superb. Kuyichi (established in 2000) craft jeanswear for young, urban consumers. Cutting edge style with a conscience is what they are all about and in my opinion they have succeeded in their endeavour. They develop organic materials and were the first denim label to make good use of organic cotton. What does Kuyichi mean? It comes from the Peruvian god of the rainbow, who, as myth suggests, pinched the colours of life from the Taquille Indians. They weaved glorious blankets and in return Kuyichi returned their colours. This brand certainly bring colour to our lives. Whoever said ethical should be dull?One of the trends for this summer is going for short dresses and skirts. If you can bear to bare your legs then Kuyichi do some fantastic ones. Check out the Hevess Dress 70-752, Helium Dress 70-753 and Heman Dress 70-754. For stockists of these fab items check out the Kuyichi website. 
3) Beyond Skin - Shoes glorious shoes, filling up your wardrobe. Don't buy too many shoes, changing fashion trends lead to an incredible amount of wastage. According to WRAP over one million tonnes of textiles are ditched in the UK every year. Instead of going crazy, buy a capsule collection of shoes, that are less likely to go out of fashion by next week. Beyond Skin is another celebrity favourite. Natalie Portman wore Beyond Skin shoes to the Oscars. This brand was set up by Natalie Dean, a make-up artist in the music and fashion industry and a dedicated follower of veganism. Beyond Skin create exclusive, hand-made (in the UK) vegan shoes in a variety of lush, plush fabrics. There are no Jesus sandals to be seen on the Beyond Skin website, just luxurious, exquisitely crafted shoes. This month I like the Angelica T-Bar wedge (as seen on the left) which is just so sparkly and spangly and will turn an average outfit into a crowd stopper. Hurrah for Beyond Skin!
