As well as ethical high street fashion there were also some interesting contributions from the students of UWE, Charlie Boots and local designer (my former uni tutor) Jo Buckley.
Rhapsody by Grace Ekell was an interesting collection with a monochrome colour pallet. Garments were made from fairtrade and organic fabric and off cuts. My favorite piece was the grey silk satin dress. It had been digitally and discharge printed with hand painting on top to create a striking almost animal print.
A completely different take on recycling next with a collection by Pippa Stewart. I really liked these dresses particularly the one in the centre. The fabric looked like mostly curtain and nets - the kind your grandmother would have. But with curtain tassels and tie backs it was fully transformed into fun flirty summer dresses with a vibe that reminded me of 50's housewife and 'Mad Men'.
Another collection that caught my eye was again by Pippa Stewart but in partnership with Ashleigh McPherson. The girls had used blogging to keep in contact to reduce the amount of paper used. The collection had an all together different feel. ‘Operculum’ (Which I am informed means inside of a shell) was created from fairtrade and organic fabric and knit offcuts. The collection featured a beautiful print that resembled coral.
Bristol's own ethical designer Charlie Boots also featured three dresses from her range. Sophisticated and chic my favorite was the black dress with white bound edges. I liked how the bound edges emphasised the female figure.
The finale featured a fairtrade, organic cotton wedding dress that split into three parts so that it can be reused, reworn and remade. It was modeled by Miss Bristol who looked radiant.
The dress was designed by Jo Buckley in partnership with pattern cutter Alex Maier. The dress was designed with near zero fabric wastage. It was hard to believe the fabric was cotton, it was wonderfully structured and I could picture it not looking out of place at an outdoors or beach wedding.I really enjoyed the show and the event as a whole was a success raising people's awareness of the types of fairtrade fashion there is out there including school uniforms!
These photographs are from Charlotte Stone and Jon Craig - please check out their websites!
Best wishes,
Fashion Fantasist xx
