The Eco Fashion Style Secret

By Alana Sellers

Having come to Victoria from my native England, it's been inspiring to see such strong support for eco fashion. Just a day after my arrival, I attended an eco-fashion show in a room full of women showing their passion for great clothes, along with their support for Fair Trade and local business.

Eco fashion - the new philosophy that promotes the production of ethically sustainable clothes - is big news now, and Canada is leading the way. Vancouver recently celebrated its sixth eco fashion week, receiving unprecedented media coverage and support from bloggers and tweeters across the world. Closer to home for James Bay Beacon readers, June saw Victoria's Think Local Week, launched by the city's business owners to encourage people to buy locally, a key principle behind eco fashion's mission to promote products that come with fewer air miles, support the local economy and reward the creativity of independent local businesses. I find these kinds of events a real inspiration. It's wonderful to see such strong community support for a more ethically responsible approach to buying the things we need and the things we wear.

There's a huge amount of support for eco fashion in England, but it's rare to find so many stores devoted to high quality, locally made fashion. As an eco personal stylist, coming to Victoria has been a revelation. I've encountered so many stores devoted to eco fashion with owners and staff who are incredibly passionate about bringing fashion to the women of Victoria with a conscience, from consignment stores to quirky eco fashion boutiques and Fair Trade stores.

People ask me what is the secret of eco fashion, and it's simple. Buy the best quality you can afford and only buy things that fit you well and that you love, don't compromise! This applies to whatever you buy and wherever you buy it, whether you're buying at your local consignment store or in a high-end department store. One of the biggest problems with the mainstream fashion industry is its determination to be 'fast' and 'disposable'. Garments are often not designed to last more than a few wears but use massive amounts of natural resources - over 145 million tons of coal and 2 trillion gallons of water are used every year to fuel our fast-fashion habits. Our consumer habits don't help. On average, women wear only 20% of what they own and buy more than 81 pounds of textiles every year, 56 of which ends up in landfills, wasting money, time and space.

It can be hard to reconcile the fast-paced world of fashion with building an environmentally friendly wardrobe, but, here's a little style secret: you can do both! Just follow the first golden rule of the eco wardrobe: consume less, wear longer. Instead of buying every item out there, choose one or two that you love and go for pieces that will blend effortlessly with the rest of your wardrobe (nothing hurts the planet and your wallet more than items that never make it out of your wardrobe!) My advice is to choose trends that suit your own personal style and work wonders for your body shape. Before you go shopping, take some time to daydream and imagine your perfect style; that way you can keep things streamlined and get maximum wear out of every piece.

This is how I work with women who want to develop how they look, but in an ethically responsible way. Whether working with make-up, wardrobe weeding, or developing your own personal style, the whole project of presenting ourselves with confidence and style can be done with a clear ethical conscience, making a minimal impact on our environment, and also saving money. One of the best things about eco fashion is it encourages you to become more creative. If you're on a budget, instead of going out and buying something cheap, take another look at your wardrobe and try out some new combinations. Or, if you have a creative streak, try upcycling items that are buried at the back of your closet. For me, being creative goes hand in hand with being a true ambassador for the eco fashion philosophy.

Alana Sellers, founder and stylist at Dress Up Cycle, is one of Britain's first Eco fashion Personal Stylists and will be giving a presentation on Eco fashion at the James Bay Community Centre at 6.30pm on Thursday 1st August followed by two Eco fashion workshops in September. For more information contact info@dressupcycle.com or visit the James Bay Community Centre.