LFW designers use platform to champion environmental causes

There was a finely tuned balance of style and substance at London Fashion Week, as designers used the platform to be vocal about issues prevailing the industry at large. Dame Vivienne Westwood was perhaps the most prolific, with models outfitted as protestors, urging the audience to buy better, buy less, a message Westwood has tireless been trumpeting for the greater part of a decade.

The British Fashion Council celebrated their Positive Fashion collaboration with BBC Earth and Mother of Pearl with a cocktail reception and film preview at Spencer House. In the first event of its kind, this collaboration brings together the global reach of BBC Earth and the influence of fashion through a BBC Earth x British Fashion Council x Mother of Pearl talks series with industry visionaries and thought leaders at London Fashion Week.

Caroline Rush, CEO, British Fashion Council said in a statement: "At the British Fashion Council we recognise that now more than ever is a time to highlight the importance of pursuing Positive Fashion in the industry and keep it at the top of everyone’s agenda to drive change.”

At the International Fashion Showcase, where xx Dutch designer Duran Lantink presented a collection straight from the sale bins questioning the permanent state of sale and discount in the fashion industry, casting a critical eye on the phenomena of Black Friday and the resulting sales riots. He also present 0 percent Duran, Lantink’s brand which creates fashion without production.

But not all green initiatives stem directly from brands. On the last day of LFW UK politicians have called on the Government to change the law to require fashion retailers to perform due diligence across their supply chains and have recommended tax breaks for companies that comply with environmental and social standards – while at the same time, punishing firms that don’t. “Fashion shouldn’t cost the earth. But the fashion industry has marked its own homework for too long,” says the group of cross-parliamentary MPs, in a report published today by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC).