This season designers pulled it out the bag. They were on fire, showing their power and consistency of design as well as their place in the global market.

The television event of the summer begins tonight. At 9pm on ITV, millions of viewers will tune in to watch oiled, sleek singletons compete for one another’s affections. Ah, modern romance. Although tremendously popular, (last year’s season premier was watched by almost 3 million people), the show has attracted criticism on a variety of fronts. One issue in particular that has been highlighted is that of the unrealistic beauty standards portrayed in the show.

On Saturday 25th May, Fashion Roundtable hosted Democratising Fashion Sustainability, a morning at Mortimer House. The event looked to join the dots between what we wear and how we can be truly ethical. It intended to deconstruct why fashion is a global conversation, the threads of colonialism and workshop solutions and commitments to be more empowered in democratising our choices as consumers. Attendees enjoyed an intimate Q&A session with Clare followed by a series of workshops.

On 23rd of May, the Fashion Roundtable team descended on a floral wonderland in Elizabeth Street, Belgravia.  Every spring, when Chelsea Flower Show takes place, this area of London bursts into life. Intricate floral displays adorn the boutiques, turning the already photogenic neighbourhood into a fashionista’s paradise.

On 20th May, Fashion Roundtable were delighted to participate in the ‘Fashioning the Future’ panel discussion hosted by the Young Fabians Arts and Culture Network. Our CEO and founder, Tamara Cincik, spoke on the panel alongside prominent voices in the field. These included Mary Creagh MP, who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, and conducted the Sustainability of the Fashion Industry Inquiry.  Edwina Ehrman, the curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s stunning Fashioned From Nature exhibition, was also speaking. The other speakers were Jenny Holloway, CEO of FashionCapital and Fashion Enter Ltd, and Vanita Badlani, founder of the vegan fashion house LaBante.  Mhairi Tordoff chaired the discussion, which explored the relationship between fashion and nature, and steps to take going forward in the industry.

The APPG for Textiles and Fashion will join policy leaders, retailers, and academics to discuss how to navigate the changing retail environment. The retail sector experienced a harsh 2018, marked by closures, fall in spending and a shift to the online shopping space. Government, media and organisations were quick to respond, with the Housing, Communities and Local Governments Committee launching and concluding an inquiry into the High Streets and Town Centres in 2030. 

Charles Eames once said, “innovate as a last resort.” As I sit amidst a swarm of fashion, beauty and tech window displays at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome waiting to board my flight to Delhi, Charles Eames’s famous quote seems redundant. I see hundreds of passersby stood by these windows either wishing they could afford a particular new item in store or contemplating their next buy based on advertisements that “pretends to perpetuate the illusion that something is new, innovative and exciting when it isn’t.” Focusing on “style rather than substance executed under instruction by others,” the impact this cyclical action has on our planet is not unknown.

If fashion is a global conversation, for many within this interconnected international community, its heart beats in Paris. Since the courts of the French kings, couturiers and ateliers have crafted the sublime into exquisite excess for Parisian style leaders such as Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette, whose milliner and dressmaker Rose Bertin continued to make items for the queen, including her mourning outfit when her husband Louis XVI was executed, even while she was imprisoned before her execution by guillotine in 1793.

True to Fashion Roundtable’s style, their first workshop on Fashion Politics and Empowerment was presented on the 7th floor of London’s fashionable Ace Hotel surrounded by spectacular vistas of the city. With a better understanding of what is going on in the political landscape and how that impacts our personal and professional lives, we left with tools to increase our agency and feel more empowered, via policy and via fashion. #FrontRowtoFrontBench is Fashion Roundtable’s rallying cry for the fashion industry to be heard seen and properly represented.  So get involved through following on social media, attending events and signing up for their regular newsletters. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live last week, the Tories vice-chairman James Cleverly revealed the government will not be reappointing the role of Disabilities Minister until the current Brexit impasse has been resolved. The previous Minister of State for Disabled People Sarah Newton resigned last month to vote against a no-deal withdrawal from the EU. But with no end point for Brexit on the horizon and a potential lengthy delay until we leave the EU, what impact will this have for the 13.9 million disabled people in the UK?

Perusing the aisles in the run up to Easter, one can’t help but feel pensive when encountering the mountains of mini eggs and chocolate delights produced by confectionary corporations. Symbolising new life, the tradition of Easter eggs seems somewhat void of meaning due to the increased commercialisation and over marketing of this holiday with their encasing in PET plastic. With the mass food and packaging waste occurring in the UK, simultaneous to the rise in poverty and inequality, this article explores the contrasting trajectories of our abhorrent throw away culture next to the destitution facing many UK households and how initiatives like the Felix Project are pursuing the mission of rebalancing this disparity.

 ‘We’re all (nearly) totally fucked’ read the flyer that advertised the Extinction Rebellion’s talks that were given by Clare Farrell and Sara Arnold at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art this week. While hundreds of students in the building were designing and making new products, Clare and Sara were talking about the very real consequences of making too much. It’s worrying that the audience was small when this topic is so big, do so few people care about the existence of the human race? The talk was called ‘Heading to Extinction and what to do about it’ and, as Sara told me, aimed to “educate people on the truth about the climate crisis.”

JUDY BLAME, was a true rebel in every sense of the word.
He was one of the first pioneers of the DIY stylist movement of the 1980s. Not only a stylist, but an amazing jeweller, making what we throw away as garbage into compelling pieces of art. A true anarchist, he is what I would consider the real meaning of a real stylist. Totally original in his aesthetic and a constant influence on today’s fashion community.

This season at Paris fashion weeks AW 19/20, collections defined honour in the working women. With the recent passing of the the king himself, Karl Lagerfeld,  I felt sadness and joy all at the same time. Their was a quietness in the air, almost like a salute to the house of Chanel, And it’s achievement to still stand tall amongst all of the new designers houses.

What are the three points that you would like Defra to pick up on?

A: It is essential for Defra, and the Government as a whole, to understand that the way we make, use and throwaway our clothes is unsustainable. Our excessive fashion consumption is causing a waste problem both in the UK and overseas.

Defra should make fashion retailers take responsibility for the textile waste they create by introducing an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for textiles and reward companies that take positive action to reduce waste. The Government’s recent pledge to review and consult on how to deal with textile waste by 2025 is too little too late. We need action before the end of this parliament (2022).  

We would also like to see the Department consider whether it could apply its promised tax on virgin plastics to synthetic garments that don’t contain recycled plastic.  

Defra should also bring together fashion retailers, water companies and washing machine manufacturers to work together to solve the problem of microfibre pollution. We need changes in the law to end the era of throwaway fashion.  

Ara Lumiere an Indian brand creates exquisite head accessories handcrafted by women acid attack survivors. They recently won the Fashion Hub Market prize by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and The Best Shops (a non-profit Italian chamber of buyers) during Milan Fashion Week and founder Kulsum Shadab Wahab says the “survivor’s needed this glory and there is no better platform to start our journey.”

It was October 2016 when a BBC Panorama investigation uncovered Syrian refugee children working in garment factories in Turkey, for high-street brands such as Marks and Spencer and ASOS. The documentary showed that there were children as young as 13 being forced to work 60 hour weeks for as little as 70p an hour. As a group, refugees are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, as Peter McAlister, head of the Ethical Trading Initiative, has pointed out.

Published in 2002, this design manifesto centres on how we interact with the earth’s natural systems and nature. It calls for a paradigm shift away from a linear economy to one that is circular. The focus on a Cradle to Cradle philosophy in creating systems that promote an endless life cycle and celebrate an abundance of human creativity, culture, and productivity. Composed by Michael Braungart and William McDonough, it marries Braungart’s proficiency in chemistry with McDonough’s architectural prowess. Their excellence and expertise in their respective fields has seen Braungart lead Greenpeace’s chemical division as well as founding the German Environmental Protection Agency. McDonough’s international renowned design consultancy also sees him sit on the World Economic Forum’s Meta Council on Circular Economy. 

The High Streets and Town Centres 2030 report was the conclusion of an inquiry led by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee of the House of Commons. Town centres and the shopping experience have been reinvented with the next day deliveries, free returns and the comfort on not leaving your house, provided by online stores. This, combined with changing demographics, the trend of moving away from small towns to cities and the domination of chain commerce (how many Costa coffee’s do you walk past on your way to work?) has prompted a massive shift in the usage and scope for town centres and high streets to survive (and thrive )as our shopping habits change.

The Committee’s inquiry sets out to understand the role of high streets and city centres in sustaining social, cultural and economic health to local communities, and to evaluate the impact of the changing high streets on these.

On the eve of International Women's Day, it seems clearer than ever that women (who account for 49.556% of the world's population) need more than one day each year to celebrate their achievements and shout out the systemic issues facing what is after all, almost half the globe.