Savvy Chic by Anna Johnson

Author:Anna Johnson [Johnson, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-061-99952-9
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

Changing the Food Chain of Fashion

Stealth chic means wearing your labels on the inside (if you can be bothered with labels at all) and applying the same ethics for food, water, and shelter to clothes. If you are conscious, there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure when it comes to clothes shopping. With a little sense you can buy a fair-trade cotton T-shirt and a pair of Manolos for less. I walked into a consignment store in Brooklyn that looked liked Carrie Bradshaw’s closet: row after row of Manolo mules beckoned me, and I had a good long think about what that image evoked. In the late nineties, a city girl with a lot of pointy silk shoes had the world at her feet. Ten years later, indulging in secondhand luxury kicks much more ass. Can a shoestring style-queen go green? I think it’s getting easier every day. The conflict I used to feel about fashion and ethics is easing somewhat as more and more mainstream fashion houses embrace the basic (but socially profound tenets) of using organic materials and dyes, free-trade cotton, and manufacture in countries with fair-labor practice. It doesn’t sound sexy to have to think quite so much when out shopping (it’s escapist right?), but it’s no different than reading the label on the side of a can of soup. Ingredients equal integrity.

I am not proposing a new form of consumerism in exchange for an older one (like the endless cycle of fashion itself), or the expense of replacing what you own with eco-chic. But every time you seek to buy something new, you do have powerful choices at your disposal. Here’s a simple example: I need a sundress for the weekend. I don’t want a twenty-dollar dress if it was made by a child working for less than a living wage, using fibers that poisoned the farmers. I’d rather recycle (or re-sew) something I own, buy a vintage cotton slip and hand-dye it, or demand a sustainable product with great style. It might cost a little more but, then, I might use it for seven years. This is where ecological shopping interlocks with the principles of quality and simplicity. If that sundress is well made and distinctive, it’s going to shine on and shatter the very idea of seasons.

Where is my clothing is made? What is it made of? Who made it? These will become common consumer questions soon and not only in the domain of granola tire-kickers. Denim is proving the point with even huge companies like Levi’s featuring organic cottons. Look for labels at these innovative craft and retail sites for recycled, free-cycled, and environmentally inventive (affordable) fashion in my little list right here:

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