Leaving behind a Brown past for a Green future.
20-02-2009
If you believe that this government couldn't find its way out of a plastic bag then you might be interested in DEFRA's Lord Hunt's ambitious plans to make us rethink our Primark instincts when it comes to fast-shopping. I stopped listening a long time ago so I won't bore you with it. For way too long ethical fashion has been tagged the geeky kid sister of mainstream fashion and for the last six years London has struggled to represent as a serious player in the global game of fashion poker.
This year might be different. If you couple high-octane glamour and brains in the very envy-inspiring shape of Summer Rayne you get ethical fashion's living green goddess. Summer has modelled the gorgeous vintage and recycled cashmere and bodice pieces by Deborah Lunquist for many seasons; she has also fronted campaigns for mainstream fashion brands such as Lee.
She realised early on that fashion would be a great platform for activism and was interested very young in all things green. It didn't go down well with friends. Whilst at Cornell, where she was majoring in Entomology (bugs to you and I) and Environmental Science, she says she lived with boys in a house " who used to laugh at me and call me a Park ranger." Her frustration at not being able to make even her friends understand her causes reinforced her conviction that fashion, which already manipulated the media masterfully might make some people think again about her views.
After a long stint in modelling, in which she has carved out a values led career, Summer has written her book, Style, naturally a veritable green bible, what she describes as "the savvy shopping guide to sustainable fashion and beauty."
The beautifully presented tome, on acid-free paper of course, book contains great tips on brands which produce ethical and sustainable clothing, shoes, beauty products and some of Summer's own quirky friends feature in their vintage / reclaimed / recycled fashion finds. There's also the "heavy" side to the book, which outlines very clearly the irreparable damage we are doing to our planet and a "beauty blacklist" of products which are actually harmful but still used in mainstream cosmetics. The book makes an ethical lifestyle accessible.
She's a woman who wears a multitude of hats, her book launch in New York at Stella McCartney's store last week attracted fashion royalty such as Donna Karen and Ralph Lauren and in April, Summer launches her first collection of affordable ethically produced shoes for Payless Shoe Source, which sells over 2 million pairs of shoes a year. These are priced at about $30. It's only by working the message and communicating it from the grassroots and by imbuing the consciousness of fashion elitism that green will ever go mainstream.
So, never mind Lord Hunt and his well-intentioned missives, it's front line people "living it" who will change the collective view of ethical sustainable fashion so that it is palatable to the high street. Look out Gordon Brown and Jimmy Choo, there's a storm of Summer Rayne headed your way.
You can buy the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Style-Naturally-Shopping-Sustainable-Fashion/dp/081186524X
Words Farah Damji
Photography Rodney Compton
