Is fashion wearing out the world

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Is fashion wearing out the world?
It's a big week for ethical fashion, with Lucy
Siegle's long awaited launch of her book To Die
For Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?, and the
fifth birthday celebrations of London Fashion
Week's Estethica.
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• The ethical fashion movement comes of age this
  week. Livia and Colin Firth are hosting the book
  launch tonight of Lucy Siegle's book, To Die For
  Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? The book is a
  thoroughly researched, hard-hitting (and
  occasionally depressing) look behind the scenes
  of the fashion industry, focusing on the
  environmental and social impact the industry is
  having on the planet. Siegle, who has been
  assisting Livia Firth on her Green Carpet
  Challenge highlights the people who are part of
  the long chain who all contribute to the making
  of our clothes, from the farmers who plant the
  cotton and herd the goats to the machinists who
  sew our dresses and T-shirts. A farmer in Gujarat
  gets 13 rupees for 500 grams of cotton, while a
  pair of designer jeans weighing 500 grams sells
  in the west for the equivalent of 1500-1700
  rupees.

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• In pictures Livia Firth's green hits on the red
  carpet
• There are some moments of light. I love the idea
  of Choolips , whose clothes are pictured here, a
  company that works with batikers and tailors in
  Ghana. Siegle paid 70, placed her order and then
  followed her dress for two months as it was being
  made from the printing of the fabric, the cutting
  of the pattern and the sewing to the finishing
  and final packaging. Each part of the dress's
  journey forms a kind of blog which is sent to you
  so you can be part of the whole process. 'I can't
  think of anything more different from the
  fast-fashion experience,' Siegle writes.
• Siegle was also in attendance on Friday night
  with Livia Firth for the launch of Fashion's
  Fairer Footprint, an initiative set up by LSE
  Students' Union Fashion Society ' to build
  awareness about sustainable fashion and beauty,
  and inspire future industry leaders'.

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• And tomorrow sees the 5th birthday party of
  Estethica, the British Fashion Council initiative
  to help promote sustainable, responsible fashion
  at the industry's cutting edge. Estethica's
  designers include Goodone, Ada Zanditon, Junky
  Styling, Noki and From Somewhere whose designer
  Orsola de Castro is also the show's curator and a
  passionate campaigner.
• The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will be
  attending the party to launch his own green
  initiative, Greening London's Fashion Industry,
  outlining 'straightforward ideas to save money
  and the environment'.
• To Die For Is Fashion Wearing out the World? is
  12, published by 4th Estate.

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Livia Firth is green queen of the red carpet

• The dress which Livia Firth, Golden Globe winner
  Colin Firth's wife, wore on the red carpet at the
  weekend was outstanding, in many respects - not
  least because it was a glamorous example of
  eco-chic.

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• The dress was made from hand-dyed indigo 'peace'
  silk, also known as 'ahimsa' or 'vegan silk', and
  it was designed by the American 'eco warrier' of
  fashion, Jeff Garner, a poet and former mover and
  shaker in the music industry, who is now a
  regular star on London Fashion Week 's stage. It
  was, in fact, at LFW in September, where Livia
  first became aware of Prophetik, when she
  attended Garner's spring/summer 2011 show with
  fellow eco-campaigner, Laura Bailey.
• Check out Livia Firth's 'green' red carpet hits
• "We both loved the romance of Jeff Garner's
  gowns. There is nothing 'Granola' or worthy about
  the way they look. I really appreciate the way
  Garner is able to approach problems in the
  fashion chain, like the heavy chemical pollution
  associated with dyeing, and come up with a
  considered response. His understanding of
  ecologically-intelligent fabrics and processes,
  is extraordinary, as is his respect for the
  natural world."

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• Garner set up his fashion label, Prophetik , in
  Franklin, Tennessee, an old American Civil War
  town, nine years ago. His designs are
  sustainable, made from organic cotton and
  corduroy, hemp, flax and 'Greenspun', which comes
  from recycled bottles, and dyed with plants and
  herbs from his garden indigo for blue, for
  example, as in Livia's gown marigold for gold
  and yurba mate, for silver. Past collections have
  also featured splatter-prints, 'painted' by
  elephants in a southern Thailand sanctuary
  affiliated with the Asia Elephant Art Conservancy
  project.
• Apart from Livia Firth, Prophetik's Planet
  Earth-conscious designs have also been worn by
  Cameron Diaz, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Sheryl Crow,
  the Kings of Leon and the Jonas Brothers.
• Although it was Livia's first outing in a Jeff
  Garner Prophetik design, it was one more fashion
  step forward in her 'Green Carpet' challenge. She
  started the project in September 2009 when Tom
  Ford's movie, 'A Single Man', for which her
  husband received an Oscar nomination for Best
  Actor, opened the Venice Film Festival. On that
  occasion, she wore an ethical blue cocktail dress
  by the ex-Central St Martins designer, Sara
  Shepherd, and vowed she would henceforth only
  wear eco-fashion on the red carpet.

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• She has proved resolute and re-created herself as
  'the green queen' of the red carpet, turning
  heads with her subtle, sustainable approach to
  glamour, a head-turning contrast to the heaving
  cleavage, corsetry, de luxe embellishment and
  extravagance which is the Tinsel Town, awards
  gala or film premiere norm. For the Golden Globes
  in 2010, she chose what the American fashion
  press called a "re-purposed", ie. recycled,
  wedding dress, by Christiana Couture. She walked
  the red carpet for the Academy Awards in
  Hollywood that year in a dress by the From
  Somewhere founder and designer, Orsola de Castro,
  and more recently, chose a design by Junky
  Styling for the Paris premiere of the acclaimed
  movie, 'The King's Speech'.
• Many of Livia's favourite eco labels are
  long-established names at London Fashion Week's
  Estethica exhibition, which she is a keen
  supporter of, while Jeff Garner's Prophetik shows
  under the banner of the Vauxhall Fashion Scout
  new talent programme.
• She is far from a stranger to the eco fashion
  movement, having opened her own one-stop eco-shop
  in Chiswick in 2008. Komodo , Outsider, Article
  23, From Somewhere , and Made jewellery - for
  whom Livia has recently designed - are among
  favourite brands, and the store also has
  occasional '12 Degrees of Fashion' pop-up shop
  events to showcase designers who are working in a
  sustainable way.

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• "Quite rightly fashion has attracted attention
  over labour rights and its environmental
  footprint, but there are also some amazing
  skilled designers with a stunning aesthetic and
  vision, but who also prioritise the environment
  and social justice. I wanted to help give them a
  platform.
• With Colin Firth tipped to win the 'Best Actor'
  Oscar at this year's Academy Awards, Livia will
  definitely be at his side on the red carpet. We
  may not know yet what she will wear. But of one
  thing we can be certain, it will be 'green'.

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• edited byTiffany Jewelry