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Paris Fashion Week | Introducing the EVER Manifesto

Mark Fast and Osman Yousefzada | Source: Ever Manifesto
By
  • Imran Amed

PARIS, France — Besides the requisite family members (Paul McCartney) and celebrities (Charlotte Rampling and Gwyneth Paltrow) in her audience and supermodels (Natalia Vodianova) and clothes (feminine tailoring and a-line skirts) on her catwalk, Monday's Stella McCartney show also highlighted an enterprising new initiative focused on ethical luxury.

The brainchild of Monaco's Princess Charlotte Casiraghi, Elizabeth von Guttman and Alexia Niedzielski, the EVER Manifesto is designed to showcase and celebrate how ethical principles can underpin luxury lifestyles. The project was launched during Milan Fashion Week with the support of Vogue Italia's Franca Sozzani and then distributed to attendees of Stella McCartney's show in Paris.

Today, BoF gives you an exclusive first peek at some of the compelling content offered up in EVER Manifesto 01 as Barneys New York Fashion Director and forward-thinking style maven Julie Gilhart talks to London-based fashion designer Duro Olowu about sustainability and consumption in the fashion industry.

Duro Olowu: What does sustainability mean in the fashion industry?

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Julie Gilhart: I feel it's about being more conscious of how clothes and accessories are made. Trying to ensure that wherever possible they're made using organic or sustainable fabrics and supporting crafts people. The main thing is that the production of sustainable products in fashion should have less of an adverse impact on the planet unlike most kinds of mass production.

DO: I remember early on in their careers people like Margiela, Xuly Bet and other underground labels used recycling techniques as a means of expressing their avant garde vision of fashion and how clothes could be worn. Is sustainability now what recycling was in the 1990s?

JG: Yes to some degree. Designers like that were concerned with showing how fashion items could be worked and reworked, used and reused. It was about defining individual personal style by designing collections using recycled fabrics and garments, and making a strong statement against mass production. Hardly ever did the words sustainable or organic show up in the descriptions of these designers and their work. And yet, because these labels grew slowly but surely, it showed buyers, retailers and the fashion press that this kind of production, though limited in quantity, avoided a lot of the waste going on elsewhere in the industry.

DO: Why has the fashion industry been so slow to catch up with others in embracing sustainable or organic products?

JG: The fastest awareness was with organic food and cosmetics. When I was growing up in Texas, buying organic meant shopping at a little market in town frequented by few. But by the mid 1990s, the food and cosmetics industry were way ahead of fashion in embracing organic products and sustainable production methods. The main reason being that theirs was a more specific story that invited people into eating organic foods and using organic cosmetics. People became more aware of their health and wellbeing, and as such more conscious about what they put into their bodies and how these products were made. All by simply reading labels and content descriptions. Taste and feel were also very important.

DO: How has this education and knowledge impacted on the current luxury goods industry?

JG: Luxury is changing and the whole 1990s "expensive thing" is no longer seen as luxurious. Consumption cannot be stopped. However, in the current economic climate, the limited number of real customers for this industry must feel good about their purchases, expensive or not. This "conscious consumption" is not a trend. It is a movement. One that has forced smart designers and brands alike to become much more transparent about where things are made, what they are made from and under what conditions they are produced. Issues of sustainability and fair trade are now part of the appeal of fashion even with luxury goods.

DO: And still important is design in this new consumer movement?

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JG: Extremely so. It is still about having beautifully designed things that fit well and feel good. What is new is that people are now aware that these things can be made in a sustainable way without compromising the result. And high-end fashion in limited numbers adds to the cache of the brand. Like with your work, which has always incorporated mixing unused vintage and rare couture fabrics with your own prints and other contemporary fabrics that you produce locally.

DO: Absolutely. For me beautiful fabrics and limited production is the key to creating special pieces that are desirable to the client. Production conditions are also crucial.

JG: Absolutely. Approved factory strategy is a major thing now. US companies manufacturing in countries like China are now stipulating the manufacture of fewer goods in better working conditions.

DO: But doesn’t this conflict with the bottom line cost efficient needs of these big companies?

JG: Yes and no. As these companies become more aware of the disaster that the human race is creating on the planet they are seeking a new way of continuing to manufacture and sell more cost effectively without abusing the planet and its workforce. They realise that they can do this in a sustainable manner which requires pioneering programmes and legislation. The  concious consumers awareness of the efforts of these brands in this regard saves these companies huge amounts of money as cheaper advertising is required. Any thing that saves these companies large amounts of money in this dire economic climate is a big plus. For them, the new sustainability is about sustaining a business!

DO: Barneys New York has always supported  and sponsored organic and sustainable  projects and products in fashion.  For example the Future Fashion project in 2008 which invited major fashion brands to participate in a runway show using sustainable fabrics for the first time. How successful was this and what does the future hold?

JG: The event was a huge success covered by all the major fashion magazines and press. Over 30 important designers including Bottega Venetta, YSL, Isabel Toledo, Proenza Schouler, Margiela, Versace, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and you donated total looks and showed the power of the message of sustainability while maintaining fashion credibility. More recently we have collaborated on the "New Vintage" collection with YSL. A limited collection of pieces by them all made from organic cotton.  We are also embarking on a Loomsgate project featuring clothes in prints of animals considered endangered species. All proceeds go to the "Defenders of Wildlife" organisation.

DO: What’s a simple garment that the average consumer can start being more educated about?

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JG: Start with being conscious of how you buy denim. Each pair of conventionally produced jeans contains, on average, enough pesticides to fill one zip lock bag. Read the label to see where and how it was made. It's good for you and even better for the planet.

EVER Manifesto 01 was generously supported by Loro Piana and Vogue Italia.

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