Preloved dress and sandals from Australian Red Cross op shop.
This week I’m giving a talk about ethical consumption at the Australian Red Cross with REDxYOUTH. The preparation got me thinking about my own consumption behaviour. So, it’s time for me to come out with an open secret; I have way too many clothes. For all the minimalist wardrobe techniques that I teach, workshops on capsule wardrobes that I run and clothes swaps that I organise and clients whose wardrobes I help reduce, I still have a really big wardrobe.
I started op shopping and eco styling at age fifteen. My love for one-off vintage clothes, rare and unusual pieces made me a collector of fine garments that spark tremendous joy in myself and others. It’s been somewhat of a sacred art, with style being like a religion to me. Scouring the racks at vintage stores, op shops, clothes swaps and preloved markets is a rite that I’ve been performing faithfully. Fortunately, I’ve been able to alchemise this practice into a purposeful career in sustainable fashion.
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries. Its greenhouse gas emission levels have recently surpassed all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Globally we’re consuming about 80 billion brand new garments every year which is 400% more than what we consumed just twenty years ago. Australia happens to be the second-largest consumer of new textiles after the US. According to United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), World Resources Institute (WRI), in total, up to 85% of textiles go into landfills each year. A massive part of the environmental degradation happens with fashion manufacture. For instance, the United Nations Environmental Programme says the fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water worldwide. It takes about 2,000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans. That’s more than enough for one person to drink eight cups per day for 10 years!
On the other side of it, we can afford to be so wasteful because clothes are cheaper than ever. Majority of the people who make our clothes (mostly women) are exploited with a plethora of human rights abuses ranging from super low wages to inhumane work conditions. Workers in developing countries can be forced to work sixteen-hour days for as little as $6 a day which does not come anywhere close to a liveable wage.
Our modern pattern of fashion consumption is a vicious, short-lived cycle of buy - wear once, twice or not at all - bin it - then buy new all over again. I believe the cycle is driven by trends. Trends are powerful because from birth, we’re conditioned to follow trends. For many decades, possibly even longer, fashion has cleverly advanced its skills in making the masses believe you have no value unless you wear their brand or follow trends. It’s one of the very things that makes us feel like we’re not enough, then promises happiness and acceptance if we buy. All the while, fast fashion brands amass billions of dollars on the back of exploitation and untold levels of environmental damage. What’s also sad is that this fashion consumption model does not seem to be giving us consumers any true, lasting or genuine happiness. This then begs the question; why the heck are we still doing this?!
My recommendation is that it’s time for us to ‘get off the fashion trendmill’. Individual preference and sustainable acquisition methods should be the premise for consuming clothes, not fashion trends. This is the key for buying less, choosing well and making our clothes last much longer. Preloved (secondhand) clothing keeps garments in a circular economy. This delays (or prevents)garments going to landfill. Even though about 97% of my wardrobe is preloved, and I tend to cherish pieces for a long time, I still sometimes wonder if I’m consuming too much. On the other hand, it’s also my career, therefore, these are tools of my trade. As a would-be fashion consumer, I would feel enticed to buy the latest shiny trend to feel validated. However, in my world of preloved shopping, even though it’s more ethical, it used to be fuelled by the need to fill a void like loneliness. It was also a form of escapism from a trauma that I was experiencing. Later, I became more conscious of my personal thought patterns that were driving the behaviour. I guess it’s up to each of us to introspect with brutal honesty to explore why we’re consuming so much in order to heal those parts of ourselves and shift the behaviour of overconsumption. What comes up for you when you think deeply about why you shop so much?
STYLING
This week, in honour of Australian Red Cross and all of the incredible humanitarian, aid and community services they have provided globally since 1914, I am wearing a dress and beige sandals from The Red Cross op shop. This 1950s vintage-style replica dress has a lovely pattern, laced in with side and lower panels of glorious, vivacious art drawings of on-the-vine oranges and flowers. I paired it with beige strappy, chunky heeled sandals I also found at the Red Cross op shop on a different visit. In some photos I’m wearing a charcoal preloved Miu Miu designer light mohair jumper I found at another op shop. I’m wearing a petticoat underneath to give it the voluminous 1950s full skirt look.
ReStyling tips
If you own a patterned or multi-coloured summer dress like this, you can wear it like I did with a petticoat and dressed-up shoe to look elegant. Otherwise, try any of these tips:
1. If you love pattern clash (like me), try wearing a top, button down shirt tied at the front in leopard print, zebra print or polka dot over the top half of the dress. The key is to make sure at least one of the colours of the top matches at least one colour on the bottom half of the dress. This makes the colour-pattern interaction look balanced. Otherwise it might look too out of sorts.
2. Go casual with no petticoat and a pair of flat sandals. You can even wear a plain, basic t-shirt of a with a colour that matches the bottom half of the dress.
Outfit sourced from:
Multicolour Summer Dress: Red Cross Op Shops
Beige Chunky Heel Sandals: Red Cross Op Shops
Charcoal Miu Miu Jumper: The Green Shed Underground Op Shop
