[GREEN LIVING] How to lessen your CARBON STYLE QUOTIENT with Eco Fashion

With the world’s biggest fashion blitzkrieg on with the Paris Fashion Week we bring focus on eco fashion as part of the on going green living challenge. Here’s the quick and easy eco fashion guide to up that style quotient while bringing down the carbon quotient.
We’re on a mission to kickstart green living for ordinary urbans who are time crunched, juggling multiple roles and have low awareness of how to start leading a more eco-friendly lifestyle. So for all the well intentioned but slightly laid-back city folks, our Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Mirela Orlovic, has made a holistic and easy to follow urban green living guide. And rest assured no major lifestyle upheavals are headed your way- just simple steps you can take in different aspects of your busy everyday life that can really make a big impact. If you’re still thinking of bouncing know that you can’t complain about pollution without making sure you aren’t contributing to it. So time to bring down our #CarbonKarma people and lead a healthier, happier and guilt free life. We’d kicked off with how to reduce carbon footprint of food. We’ve also touched upon key aspects of urban life like fitness, plastic reduction, kickstarter to zero waste, urban commuting, greening your office and travel and even green laundry goals!
Now we get to fashion. Over to Mirela.

GREEN LIVING FASHION TIP: High on style & low on carbon quotient with Eco Fashion

Let’s confess, we all (me definitely) fantasise about being Carrie Bradshaw from Sex & the City. Not for finally snapping Mr ‘BIG’ after a string of drool worthy lovers or the New York City shenanigans but for that dreamy walk-in closet and the shoes she got to wear! Ok maybe a bit for Mr Big too. I hate to be a bubble breaker but her much loved affair with fashion is actually disastrous for our planet. Because if there is one thing that ‘retail therapy’ does not fix it’s the massive pollution caused by the fast fashion industry. This global industry is also one of the most unethical and exploitative in terms of labour and manufacturing practices and eco fashion is an attempt to arrest this impact.
Feeling bad about the shopping spree with your girlfriends every other week? Good. It’s time we all became better, more responsible fashion lovers. We’re here to help you do just that with 4 easy steps on how to reduce the carbon footprint of fashion consumption- simple tenets of eco-fashion.

›› BUY LESS. WEAR MORE.

I live by the golden words by Vivienne Westwood- Shop less. Think More. We all go through that doomed feeling each morning when we open our closets- there’s nothing to wear. Trust me, give it just 5 minutes of serious rummaging in the closet and the feeling will pass. We’ve become fast fashion slaves but my mantra is beg, borrow or steal but don’t buy. Ok not steal maybe.

But on a serious note, the Zaras & H&Ms of the world are fuelling a crazy race for fashion that is really damaging for the environment. From massive depletion and contamination of natural resources and unethical practices to meet demand pressures to landfills full of discarded clothes… the ugly side of the glitzy fashion world is hard to ignore. So let’s go slow on trends and be picky about style- choose quality over quantity. Of course I follow what’s in vogue and seasonal styles but I try to stick to buying one piece that can be paired with classic stuff. Put the clothes you want through my simple 3 question test to cut impulse buying:

Is this a high-quality piece that will last long?

Will I still want to wear this in 1 years time?

Do I have something in my wardrobe to match this piece with?

›› BE A SERIAL REPEATOR

If you think being spotted in the same outfit twice is a fashion crime then let’s call the police on Emma Watson, Eva Mendes, Kiera Knightly, Dame Helen Mirren… the list of serial outfit repeators is endless. Hell even royalty doesn’t shy away from it anymore- just ask Duchess Kate Middleton or TV Queen Kim Kardashian! So make the most of your wardrobe and join the slow fashion movement by repeating clothes. I’m personally taking the #30Wears challenge- an initiative started by sustainable fashion activist Livia Firth that has caught on with celebs in a big way. The idea is two-fold: consider if you’ll wear a garment 30 times while buying and actually do it too! And repeating an outfit doesn’t mean you wear it the same way. Unleash your inner fashionista and mix and match it up creatively with accessories, shoes and separates.

›› VINTAGE. UP-CYCLED. RENTED: MAGIC BEAMS FOR A WARDROBE OVERHAUL

There is a better and more conscious way of replenishing your wardrobe. From finding gems in charity shops to up-cycled pre-owned sales and the latest craze- rentals! Fashion Revolution came up with #haulternative and I swear by this sort of shopping that’s more creative and meaningful. Vintage fashion is quite a big trend the days especially mixing it up with high street pieces. W.Y.L.D.E. is one of my favourite fashion innovation brands from Paris which uses up-cycling and sustainable fabrics. You can check out the new W.Y.L.D.E. SS17 line which is sassy and all things spring! Fashion rentals are mushrooming in all cities. From global online portals like Rent The Runway in US to Une robe à Paris in France to smaller rental boutiques stocking local designers, you can get to wear the hottest trends at half the price! I discovered this amazing shared wardrobe start-up HYLLA based in Paris.

›› BE SUSTAINABLE & SEXY

My philosophy is simple. If I’m going to be a tree hugger then I’m going to a damn sexy tree hugger. Gone are the days when eco-fashion was all shades of brown. Sustainable is the new sexy as so many eco labels are showing us these days with hot designs and innovative materials. Even mainstream fashion giants are releasing capsule sustainable collections like H&M’s Conscious Collection. Look at the gorgeous sustainable fashion pieces Emma Watson has been sporting- she even has a special Instagram account chronicling her eco fashion journey- @the_press_tour! And while the words « eco-friendly, » « organic » and « sustainable » get bandied around a lot in fashion lately steer clear of greenwashing and explore genuine eco labels like sexy sustainable clothes brand REFORMATION– my personal favourite.
I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes by Anne Klien- « Clothes aren’t going to change the world. The women who wear them will. » With these simple steps you can be one of those women because #GreeningIsWinning