Earth Day: Fashion And The Environment

So as it's World Earth Day today I thought that it gives me a great opportunity to discuss an issue which I think can often be pushed aside and forgotten in the rush of 21st century living. I know that almost all of us have near perfect environmental ideals. We believe in sustainability, in not wasting our fossil fuels, in fair conditions for the workers who make our clothes. But just as we mostly believe in sustainable energy yet will rarely go out of our way to make the financial investment to install solar panels onto our roofs, sustainability in fashion seems to be pushed aside in order to purchase what we want at the prices we want.

While there are a fair amount of small indie brands embracing an eco-friendly ethos, very few of the big players are doing the same. In fact only one springs to mind, H&M. I think what they are doing is brilliant; they are investing some of their (huge) profits back into setting up a more sustainable practice. On their UK site they express their goal of having all of their cotton from sustainable sources by 2020. While H&M's conscious collection is large with 91 different styles in the UK, I will be happy to see their entire range a conscious brand without compromising design. 

I think that as consumers making choices about what to buy, we should first think about where the fabrics are coming from. Polyester, elastic, and plastic in our shoes are perhaps the most common components. Cotton is also surprisingly wasteful. The WWF say that a pair of jeans takes 8500 litres of water to grow, which means that farmers often use chemicals to enhance growth which of course impact the surrounding environment. So if you are buying cotton then organic is best for the immediate environment, but so much water is used that it still hardly seems ideal. Fabrics like Tencel which come from fast growing eucalyptus use much less water than cotton, and so help in the global water crisis which is often forgotten.

Unfortunately there's no way I can sit here and write, with a clear conscience, telling you to buy less products with plastic or cotton in them because at the end of the day we all have a budget and there are only so many options available. I personally can't afford to buy eco under normal circumstances, and polyester and cotton have got to be the two most common fabric components there are.

I still believe that there are ways everyone can help no matter what their budget is. Donate every single piece of old clothing which is still wearable to charity shops, and the rest to schemes like H&M garment collecting. If sewing and dressmaking is something which you're interested in like me, then find a local textile recycling bank where you can deposit your scraps instead of sending them to landfill. 

I have compiled a list of eco friendly brands (focussing on lingerie) which still have design at heart and aren't compromising their design aesthetic for a variety of budgets.

-H&M conscious range

-LuvaHuva (bras £29-£44, knickers £16-£26)

-Anne Wiggins London (silk pjs £225)

-Augustine London (bras £34-£44, knickers £19-£25)

-Clare Bare (bras $58-$82, knickers $34-$72)

Do you have any eco friendly brands you like?

Acceptance

So one of my earlier memories in life is in primary school in year 5. I tripped over and fell onto this girl in my class called Chloe, and I remember very clearly my face being planted right in between her newly formed boobs. We would only have been 9 or 10 at the time, but she was an early bloomer and I... well I'm still waiting for my blossoming almost a decade later. In fact I can speculate that age 9 Chloe probably has larger breasts than present day me.

Anyway, this particular episode of face planting had a very strong effect on me and as I progressed onwards through secondary school and saw Chloe and the rest of the girls around grow into a more and more womanly figure I was left fluttering behind in the distance, feeling worse and worse about my body each week when we changed for PE.

Lula Lu Petites, sourced from globalintimatewear.com

I remember seriously considering at one point when I was around 14 padding out my bra with socks or tissue or whatever to try to keep up. I would buy bras with what was, quite frankly, an absurd amount of padding in them; I just wanted to be normal and for the boys to be interested in me.

When I think about it now, I'm sure something similar was going through Chloe's mind. I can imagine now that she would have felt like she stood out and she wasn't normal, and maybe she just wanted to look like all the other girls who were smaller. And maybe the fact that the boys weren't interested in me had more to do with the fact that every time an attractive specimen of the opposite sex approached me I turned bright red and made myself look like a complete fool, and I was not at all popular, which at that age is the most important thing in the world.

The Mad Men actress with a slightly larger chest than me...

When I managed to find a member of the opposite sex who both played the guitar and got turned on by red bumbling fools in year 11, it took... well, it took until only a few months ago (and I'm off to uni later this year) for me to believe that he actually was happy with my boobs, he wasn't just lying and going home and crying over a photo of Christina Hendrix every night. It's taken a few years, but I have finally grown to accept my shape. It's petite. It's delicate. It's perky. And I honestly believe that it can be  just as feminine as Chloe's.

There isn't a single woman out there who doesn't have positive aspects to her body, it's just a journey in self confidence to accept and learn to love them.

Lingerie Review: Urban Outfitters Navy Satin Bralette

I will admit that the first thing which attracted me to this Urban Outfitters bra was the price. I had a discount code for shipping and it was on sale for £9. Usually I won't buy online, I'm a fan of supporting the high street and the bricks and mortar shopping experience, not to mention the endless fit issues you can have. On this occasion however I saw it, it was beautiful, it was also half price and in my size; I had to take the risk. Luckily it is just as lovely in the flesh as on the website and the navy colour really suits my pale skin tone, as I would imagine it would suit others.

The term 'bralette' refers to any non-wired bra. This can range from a simple unpadded one like this, to fully padded sports bras or longline bras, as long as there is no wiring. They are also sometimes called soft bras, and it's commonplace for them to only be stocked in sizes XS, S, M, L etc. Rather than regular band and cup sizing such as 34B, or 75B if you're in metric. They also as a general rule offer much less support and uplift than an underwired bra as there is no wire to cup the breast and hold/push it into a supported position, which is why bralettes are usually more suited to smaller chested women, such as myself.

Small gathering along this seam

Considering I bought this garment online the fit was surprisingly good. I bought an XS, and I usually take a 34A, UK sizing. The band began to feel a little tight after 5 or 6 hours wear which is unsurprising considering my usual size, but as there is no underwire it's not a particularly uncomfortable sensation. I think the XS would be more suited to a 30 or 32 inch band. The fit in the cups is a little off, but not by much, just enough to cause some small gathers in the fabric as you can see in the picture above.

The construction is not of the highest quality, you can see how the stitching pulls in the centre gore below. I didn't notice any other problems and I think small issues like this are fairly typical for a high street brand, especially when I payed so little.

The stitching is pulling at the centre

Now onto the important part, which is how it makes me feel. I personally think this is a really sexy look. The satin is such a nice colour and I love where the line between blue and black hits just above the nipple. The scalloped edging is a beautiful detail and makes it look far more luxurious than it's real value, and I like the continuation of the black mesh around the band at the back. It doesn't change the shape of my breasts at all under clothing so has a very natural look and feel, and if you minded about your nipples showing through your clothing I would think twice. But then, I'm not really sure if this is the kind of garment which is intended to be worn under clothes.

I would rate this bra 6 out of 10 as it is beautiful and very good value for money, but there were quite a few small issues and I did expect it to provide minimal shaping. 

I know that Urban Outfitters have released some very morally questionable garments recently but that aside, what do you think on their lingerie range?