Compared to the recent luck of the American Northeast, the weather for London Fashion Week seems positively balmy. Perhaps the envy-worthy temperature of 48°F (for this cold New Yorker, anyway) is best attributed to the hot looks found on the runway over the past week.

Of no exception, of course, is the latest line from one of our favorite conscious designers, Vivienne Westwood, and her ceaselessly luminous Red Label. At London Fashion Week, the designer’s Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear collection provided a welcome contrast to the murky, muddied gutter snow currently associated with the season, with models walking in striking, long pink skirts and bright, multi-dimensional fitted corsets.

From sweaters, to scarves, to skirts, we selected the label’s five looks from London Fashion Week most likely to put a spring in our step.

1. 

No matter what the season, there’s something about a red dress. It always stands out and, whether a party or professional setting, it’s fit for nearly any occasion. Vivienne Westwood got the memo, and incorporated this sweeping, fire-engine-red frock into her most recent show. Boldly paired with chunky gold jewelry on the runway, accessorizing this dress could go in more than one direction, with silver pieces chicly contrasting the fabric. When the snow starts to thaw, the flowing skirt will beautifully top a pair of open-toed heels or sandals.

2. 

There are fewer pieces that scream “Quintessential London Fashion” more than a navy blazer or jacket. Paired here with a bright scarf and what could be either a little black dress or skirt, it makes for a look that seamlessly combines regional classics with a modern feel. It’s suspected that only the brave will get away with the runway-appropriate knee socks and ankle straps; for the rest of us, thigh-high boots and tights will do nicely with an outfit like this one.

3. 

What better way to infuse the winter season with the bright spirit of summer than with a mustard yellow cowl-neck sweater? Matched with an identically-hued skirt, this look cozies up to an oversized men’s blazer to compose an outfit well-placed in environments ranging from the office to the bar. The animal-print shoes throw in a dash of fun to contrast the staunchness of the jacket, reflecting Westwood’s tendency, this season, to intersect masculine and feminine elements.

4. 

Vivienne Westwood is a master of showing us the cool girl: The one who can get away with the simplest pairing of pieces for a look that’s at once flawlessly trendy, as if to also say, “Oh, this old thing? It’s just my Red Label sweater.”  This plaid skirt, olive sweater combo is practically a uniform for the girl who doesn’t mind if the hues of her clothing items don’t exactly match; she knows she looks good, and is so self-assured that she’s perfectly confident wearing flats. Yes, this London Fashion Week look is best assigned to your officemate dubbed the “friend crush”: The one you’re too nervous to ask to lunch, but once you get to know her, will happily drunk-dial your ex for you.

5. 

Ask anyone at London Fashion Week: Disco is not dead. Silver metallics reminiscent of the 1970s have been surfacing on numerous areas of the runway; if not on the set or backdrop, then on the models.  This dress is as well-suited to any urban cocktail lounge today as it would be in “American Hustle,” especially when paired with such fabulously retro sunglasses. The accessories define the mood; the animal-print flats worn here create a smooth, comfortable look uncomplicated by the distraction of, for example, stilettos, and free of any walk-of-shame connotations.

Say hey to Amanda on Twitter or Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

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Images: Vivienne Westwood Official Facebook Page

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They don’t call Dame Vivienne Westwood the ‘grandmother of punk fashion’ for nothing.

The 72-year-old fashion icon is raising a lot of eyebrows lately. Westwood has always been risqué, and if you thought age would have settled her down a bit, think again.

Westwood shaved her head recently to draw attention to climate change and the impact it’s having on the planet. “We face mass extinction,” she said. “It’s being hidden from us because our rulers still pursue their own vested interest, they’ve been trained to think that the people do not understand what’s good for them.”

Like her new hairdo, she’s downsizing her massive clothing empire. “I’ve got too much product,” she says. “I’m trying to completely reduce the scale of operation. I’m concentrating on quality, not quantity.”

And without all that hair it was easy to fashion on a shower cap for her latest appearance in a PETA video about the depletion of fresh water due to the meat industry.

“I am an eco-warrior, but I take long showers with a clean conscience because I’m vegetarian,” she says in the video. “By avoiding meat, you do more for the environment than recycling or driving a hybrid car, combined” she explains from underneath a shower head.

The video is being released in advance of the United Nation’s World Water Day on March 22^nd. According to PETA, rivers are being diverted for the livestock industry—both to hydrate the animals and grow grains that make up their feed.

The New York Times recently reported that 4 million gallons of fresh water are needed to produce just one ton of beef. In comparison, a ton of vegetables requires only 85,000 gallons of water.

“I don’t hate the older people now — I’m one of them,” says Westwood. “But I’ve been trying to do something to change things all my life.”

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

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Image:

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In the face of both triumph and tragedy, fashion’s masked and intricate supply chain is becoming more transparent. So where is the industry headed in 2014?

I never ever dreamed I would find myself working in the fashion industry. But never say never right? And somewhere between scraping plates for food waste studies and being shoulder deep in a cow’s rumen for ecological restoration research, a lot changed.

Fashion was always an interest of mine, surely an influence from my Parisian mother and catty American high school upbringing, but I always saw the industry as vain–only meant for those that have too much time and money on their hands to care about anything else other than what they wore. For my future, I wanted to be part of something meaningful. So I turned my career efforts to the world of sustainable business. Yet eventually, my environmental blindness led me directly into a relationship I soon wouldn’t be able to untangle.

Unless you are a staunch nudist you consume fashion. As utopian as it might seem to some, few of us are nudists, and so it comes as no surprise that fashion stands as the third largest industry in the entire world, after only energy and food. And like the latter two, consumers want it cheap and fast.

But to churn out fast and cheap in a complicated global supply chain, means processes need to be slimmed, quality diminished and externalities bleeding out at all steps. For fashion, this manifests in thinner, less durable fabric, miniscule pay for workers and over-consumption by us. From growing and harvesting the fiber, to processing and dyeing the textiles, to designing, cutting and sewing the garment, endless resources–be it land or creativity–go into clothing. A lot more than a $5 price tag will ever tell you.

I recently heard ethical fashion pioneer, Elizabeth Cline, speak on her first eye opening experience, when she realized there was something amiss in the industry. In the introduction of her book, “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion”, she remembers how she found herself in a Manhattan K-Mart buying seven pairs of the same shoes because they were marked down from $15 to $7. “What was so interesting about the psychology of that [moment],” says Cline, “is I owned more clothing than anything else, and I knew the least about it out of anything I buy. And I probably cared the least about it. I didn’t consider myself into fashion, yet I owned so much.”

We live in an era of conscious consumerism and yet at large a void still exits between an eco-lifestyle and the clothing we wear.

Our desire for cheap, fast clothing pushed manufacturing out of the United States fast and hard. The heartbreaking estimations that 80 percent of apparel manufacturing jobs were lost in the last twenty years is real and clearly seen in those communities with factories left. On top of the shift to overseas production for the race to the bottom dollar, cut throat, almost impossible deadlines place inhumane pressures on factory workers. So where do we go from here?

The word sustainability is thrown around a lot, and really turns some people off. And I don’t blame them. What is sustainability? No one really knows exactly what it is, or even if we can achieve it. But we know for certain what sustainability isn’t. Sustainability isn’t having more than we need. But how can we know when owning too much clothing is too much?

“Can we actually make sustainable clothing–I mean, really sustainable clothing?,” posed Rhett Godfrey, Sustainability Director of the progressive organic cotton clothing company Loomstate, at the Manufacture New York Sustainable Textile Summit this past November. “It’s one thing using dyes which don’t require water or saving energy or having fair trade and so forth. But at the and of the day are we being sustainable in terms of a systems-thinking, sustainability in term of true ecosystem–in terms of supporting peoples traditional skills and supporting cultures and communities.”

Appreciating the intricate and skilled process of making clothing is vital to make informed decision as wearers. It’s looking beyond a label or tactical marketing campaign. For example, looking beyond just buying organic cotton or made in the U.S.–although these are great clues to guide consumers on how to shop better–it’s a whole system approach, and not it’s individual parts. Aristotle and Wendell Berry know “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

But there is no right or wrong way. Every designer and fashion house approaches the making process differently from the time an idea forms to the process of production. And it’s an ethical process we are seeking. It’s a spectrum of ethics and you need to decide yours to develop a more meaningful attachment to clothing again.

The heart of the issue is it’s about time we start building a fulfilling relationship again with our clothing. But can we really have a relationship with an inanimate object or is the relationship about the one with ourselves?

For all the tragedy which arose within the fashion industry in 2013, there was so much beauty that opened as well. 2013 saw some amazing steps for a more ethical fashion community. Like Nike’s Maker app geared toward designers that beautifully visualized the resource consumption of different textiles. Bib + Tuck, an online site to swap clothing. And Zady, an e-commerce platform dedicated to telling the story of the makers.

Fashion allows us to express our identity and put forth a sense of self. And through what I’ve seen, we are developing a new passion for clothing. Not one that is based on greed and vanity but one reflecting of values, quality and character–a new type of luxury. Clothing is damn hard to make and people are connecting with the beauty and craft of that process, just like we saw with food. “And that is what is so excited to me, clothing is amazing.. and the more you now about them, the more you know about how they are sourced, and the more fulfilling your relationship with them is,” says Cline.

What I had to realize about fashion, and where I think we are heading, is understanding the complexity of our clothing.

“It is about having personal relationships, it is about having transparency, and involvement of your supply chains,” says Godfrey.

So where is sustainable fashion heading in 2014? First, it is knowing there is no difference between sustainable fashion and fashion. In the end we are taking about clothing and expressing ourselves. Next, we are getting closer to a stronger relationship with the clothing we wear, and the story of how they are made.

Our loudest vote is our dollar. And 2014 will continue to shift the market as we put our money where our values lay. Nothing is perfect and everything is a process, but education is key to a brighter future. Ethical fashion champion Vivienne Westwood‘s words always ring in my mind “Buy Less. Buy Better. Make it Last.”

Here’s to 2014.

image: Juliette Donatelli

Related on Ecosalon

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 Popular Fast Fashion Brands Caught Selling Lead-Tainted Purses, Shoes and Accessories

Keep in touch with Juliette on twitter @spadesandsilk

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Sir Richard Branson has always had a reputation for pushing the boundaries and doing things differently. Recently, he made his mark again, by partnering Virgin Atlantic with renowned fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, to bring sustainable style to the skies.

In only the fourth upgrade to the uniform in over 30 years, Westwood was asked to reinterpret the signature red looks, as part of a collaboration that will run for a decade and follow a decidedly eco-friendly theme.

The uniforms themselves, inspired by 1940s French couture and futuristic looks, will be made from a selection of eco-friendly, recycled and recyclable fabrics, and will be worn by the more than 7,500 Virgin employees. Even the ground staff will enjoy a collection of bags made from unusual materials including discarded roadside banners and recycled brass. These materials are being sourced in Nairobi through the Ethical Africa Program in collaboration with the International Trade Centre.

Virgin Atlantic is also developing all items with closed loop recycling in mind. This new technology takes worn polyester clothing and turns it back into fibers that can be woven again into new fabrics and in turn new clothing.

Westwood and Branson may seem an unlikely pair, but they were first introduced in 1977 by Westwood’s ex-husband, Malcolm McLaren, who Branson knew from signing his band The Sex Pistols, to his label. When it came time to revamp the Virgin Atlantic uniforms, Branson told Vogue UK, “The one person in this world who could create unique designs is Vivienne. So it’s great to be working with her. What we don’t want to do is work with anyone who comes up with a design and just dumps it on the cabin crew. It’s glamorous, it’s stylish.”

A world famous fashion designer in her own right, Westwood has also recently become a campaigner in the fight against climate change. Back in 2005, she set up the Active Resistance Project to encourage engagement with environmental and humanitarian issues. She also designed a t-shirt for the Environmental Justice Foundation for a campaign to support climate refugees. She has made generous personal donations to the climate cause and not that long ago, unveiled her new manifesto entitled ‘Do It Yourself’, which suggests that fashion should be less about the ‘throw away’ philosophy and more about recycling, quality and utilizing key pieces.

In the official press release about the partnership, Westwood said, “My clothes have always got a very strong dynamic rapport with the body- they are very body conscious, they help you to look glamorous, more hourglass, more woman. I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality. I am always trying to find fabrics that are more friendly to the environment – working with Virgin Atlantic they managed to research into this and find more eco fabrics.”

The women’s outfits includes a waist-cinching jacket and pencil skirt, with the men’s look being a three piece Savile Row inspired suit in rich burgundy wool.

Although the full collection won’t be formally launched until next year, some Virgin staff will be trialling the new looks, so keep your eyes peeled!

Images: ausbt

The post Sustainable Skies: Vivienne Westwood Designs for Virgin Atlantic appeared first on EcoSalon.

The best/worst of crazy, this week at EcoSalon.

Vivienne Westwood, oh-so-reserved lady of A-list fashion, is on a mission – and that mission is getting us to buy less clothes. Yep.

Fancy tucking to dinner underwater, or in pitch darkness? Check out our roundup of 10 of the strangest restaurants in the world (as if food isn’t complicated enough on its own).

It’s been another good year for sexism, as this bumper crop of dumb-as-a-stick comments about women demonstrates.

Google Street View is now taking in views of the Great Barrier Reef (while it still can).

Finally, the really crazy news this week is…we’re up for sale. And that means we need your help. Want us to remain your favorite voice of slightly-less-madness in a sea of madness? Spread the word!

The post The Friday 5: The World’s Gone Freaking Mad Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

Outspoken fashion designer Vivienne Westwood details her plan for Climate Revolution writing, “The fight is no longer between the classes or between rich and poor but between the idiots and the eco-conscious.”

British Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood is encouraging people to have a less is more attitude when it comes to buying clothes, even her own designs.

In an interview before her London Week Fashion show this week, she said, ‘‘Of course I try not to waste and my way of not wasting is to try to concentrate on quality not quantity. And you know my message, it is buy less, choose well, make it last. Even better, don’t buy anything. Don’t buy any clothes for ages until you really have to.” When questioned by a reporter whether she meant she didn’t want people to buy her latest collection, she insisted she was more interested in using fashion as a way to air her views on the environment.

More than ever Westwood is passionate about  social and environmental change. Dressed as an eco warrior in military-style shorts and a painted-on black eye Westwood strutted down the runway at the close of her preview show, while two models unfurled a banner with the words “Climate Revolution” behind her.

It may seem contradictory as the head of a multi-million dollar globally-recognized fashion business, but Westwood puts her money where her mouth is; this year she donated $1.6 million to rainforest charity Cool Earth. She is also a patron of UK-based human rights charities, Reprieve and Liberty and supports Amnesty International, Environmental Justice Foundation, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace’s Arctic Campaign.

Her personal brand of anti-consumerism finds an alternative in high art, believing, “an art lover is a freedom fighter.” Five years ago Westwood wrote her manifesto, Active Resistance to Propaganda, an ode to culture and learning designed to inspire young people to get out from behind the TV and off the consumer treadmill.

Her latest campaign to attack the issues of climate change is detailed on her diary blog Get a Life, which reveals “bits of my daily life to show you when I’m busy or relaxing. In my case fashion is a big part of my life. But the real reason for the site is to get my ideas across so that more people will join the Climate Revolution.”

Vivienne Westwood’s advice for changing our way of living and joining the Climate Revolution:

1) Money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. “I never waste money I spend it”- Oscar Wilde. Maybe you’ll give a donation to an NGO or charity. You can give your support in other ways. Just by following one you will learn a lot, this is support.

2) Quality v Quantity

3) Buy less, choose well, make it last (we don’t want the “latest thing” just for the sake of it.)

4) Prepare and cook your own food.

5) Cut out plastic.

6) Inform yourselves.

7) Consider the responsibility of not having or having children. Chances of survival will be clear by next Olympics.

8) Take an active part in events of the Revolution as it starts to build.

9) Engage in art and culture.

10) Your own idea.

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The trend for corset cuts and waist flattering peplums highlights a return to the hourglass shape. Is it a sign of curvier times to come?

Save for the ladies of Mad Men, it’s been a while since the hourglass figure had a fashion moment. Recent runways were loaded with corset cuts and elegant peplum flaring at the waist – so when it comes to tips on spring’s chicest silhouette, it seems it’s all in the hips.

The 1980s were the last time peplum and corset fashion styles were popular, then they were accompanied by exaggerated shoulders, leg of mutton sleeves and most regrettably, giant bows (fortunately 2012’s designers have modernized the waisted looks, pairing them with sleek pencil skirts and skinny pants to maximize their midrift-minimizing magic).

Vivienne Westwood’s Portrait Collection A/W 90-91 corsets were a catwalk expression of punk sexuality.

Before becoming a mass fashion trend, Vivienne Westwood was the first designer of the twentieth century to reinvent the corset in the mid-1970s. One of her most important fashion ideas, they quickly become a signature theme in her work. Modeled from those of the eighteenth century, her corsets flattened and raised the bosom, giving women a unique sense of power and glamor.

Madonna famously wore Gaultier’s corsets during her world-tour in 1990.

Jean Paul Gaultier followed in Westwood’s footsteps designing 1950s inspired corsets in homage to those his beloved grandmother wore. Gaultier’s fetishtistic corsets became iconic when Madonna wore them during her Blond Ambition world-tour in 1990. According to fashion historian Valerie Steele, “No longer the symbol of women’s oppression, the corset had become the symbol of sexual empowerment.”

Dolce & Gabanna’s romantic A/W 2012 collection cemented the trend for corset detailing to continue into the Fall.

Now & Then: The History of Lace

Now & Then: The History of the Platform Shoe

Now & Then: The History of Fitness Wear

Now & Then: The History of the Paisley Print

Now & Then: The History of the Pencil Skirt

Now & Then: The History of the Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The History of the Trench Coat

Now & Then: The History of the Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

The post Now & Then: The History of the Fashion Corset appeared first on EcoSalon.

They’re easy to walk in, make you feel taller and add a funky soul era edge to any outfit – which is why platforms will always keep coming back. 

The platform shoe trend is showing some serious staying power since its most recent reemergence on the fashion scene starting in 2007. Instead of being given its walking papers for next season, ever blockier footwear was spotted on the Fall 2012 runways of Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, Balenciaga and Miu Miu suggesting the sky’s the limit for the future of this trend.

Chopines from 15th Century Venice

The origins of the platform can be traced back to 15^th and 16^th centuries when both courtesans and patrician women would wear wood or cork overshoes that at 20 inches high, protected both their shoes and dresses from mud and street soil. Called Chopines, they were covered in leather, brocades and jewel covered velvets that often matched the wearer’s dress. Besides their practical uses, the height of the Chopine became a symbolic reference to the cultural and social standing of the wearer; the higher the shoe, the higher the status of the wearer. However, the modern platform – as we know it today – has its roots firmly placed in the emergence of the (Look At) “Me Generation” and 70s disco culture.

“You have a much better life if you wear impressive clothes.” -Vivienne Westwood

Celine’s much copied Spring 2010 collection of wood-heeled sandals-cum-clogs

Today’s platforms are worn for both function and style. The footwear of choice for those seeking added height and leg lengthening in enduring skinny jeans styles, the weight of the shoe balances a delicate outfit and adds just the right amount of yesteryear gravitas when worn with vintage-inspired pieces.

Despite deploring the ubiquitousness of the dominatrix style hybrid of platform and stiletto pump in her recent On the Runway blog, Cathy Horyn, the fashion critic of the New York Times agreed that this shoe style isn’t going anywhere soon, declaring, “Women love platform shoes.”

Bianca Jagger’s Dancing shoes. Fashionable platform shoes first appeared in the 1930s and 1940s, but reached their greatest popularity during the 1970s. They were revived for the nineties club scene, the Goths, and now look set to stay as part of high fashion style.

Now & Then: The History of Fitness Wear

Now & Then: The History of the Paisley Print

Now & Then: The History of the Pencil Skirt

Now & Then: The History of the Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The History of the Trench Coat

Now & Then: The History of the Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Top Image: Mui Mui’s Fall 2012 Platform Boots

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Shopping is big in Sao Paulo. With a population of almost twenty million, it’s Brazil’s largest city. It is said when Paulistanos aren’t working they’re clubbing, and when they’re not clubbing they’re shopping at a samba-driven pace.

And no wonder. My time spent shopping along Rua Oscar Freire in the chic Jardin’s neighborhood (it’s among the ten most luxurious street’s in the world), was a heady experience. Not the least because my visit coincided with Sao Paulo’s Fashion Night Out and an appearance by super-supermodel, Gisele Bündchen. Brazilian bodaciousness aside (one of my purchases included a kiss from a beautiful sales assistant upon the success of my credit card approval), sustainable fashion and beauty appear firmly entrenched in the consumer mindset here.

I’ve discovered cool cutting-edge design aesthetics from Brazilian designer brand Osklen, jeweler Mana Bernardes, and the booming natural beauty brand, Natura – all renowned for their smart, eco-friendly stance.

The atrium entrance’s artwork illustrates Jason Wu’s recent lace work detailing.

Leather goods are the typical recommendation for wares to bring back from Sao Paulo, but carting home dead animal skins doesn’t hold much appeal for me. What I am interested in packing in my suitcase home is a pair of the hip, brightly colored jelly shoes that can be found at the impressive Galeria Melissa.

The flagship Melissa shoe store has the world’s largest selection of the high design footwear made from a recyclable and non-toxic type of plastic. The Brazilian shoemaker also practices fair trade and zero waste in production.

Are plastic shoes the future of footwear? 

There’s something universally appealing about the tactile, pop art-esque shoes that inspires passion from collectors and celebrities like Pamela Anderson, Leona Lewis and both Katies (Perry and Holmes). It’s unlikely that these shoes are ever thrown in the recycling bin (even though you could).

Metamorphosis: Changing our idea of what shoes can be.

Seeing the entire collection together at once is a true visual feast. A dizzying array of gladiator sandals, flats, platform and four inch heels adorned with plastic hearts, butterfly wings and feathers are on display alongside full lines from collaborations with acclaimed designers such as the Campana Brothers, Karim Rashid and Vivienne Westwood.

The entire collection of Vivienne Westwood’s collaboration with Melissa Shoes.

The heart-quickening, near psychedelic shopping experience is aided muito by the futuristic looking bubble-shaped stands and the rave-enhanced interior and atrium artwork, which is updated with new graphics from guest artists every three months. Not to mention being helped along by the overwhelmingly intoxicating aroma of tutti-frutti, which the shoes are known for.

Chic, cruelty-free (and I can attest), incredibly comfortable shoes – what more can you ask for? 

The  psychedelic retail experience is aided by futuristic looking bubble-shaped stands.

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Collaborations for environment and sustainability abound this summer.

Despite contributing to a whole lot of fast fashion, the fashion collaboration phenomenon is far from losing any steam. Teaming designers with retailers like Missoni for Target and the hot off-the-press announcement of Versace for H&M, has even hardened ethical fashion editors like us tempted. Seems like everyone is getting in on the hard-to-resist concept. Happily, that also includes a new wave of partnerships between high profile brands and environmental causes.

Cult beauty brand, Crème de la Mer lined up with ocean saving charity Oceana to raise awareness for World’s Ocean Day on June 8th. In conjunction with a special launch of a blue line limited edition jar of their celebrated algae rich moisturizing cream, the company contributed $200,000 to the charity and produced a mesmerizing film, The Seven Seas Sound Mix. Described as “an ambient journey showing seven remarkable people muse about their love for the sea in a sensory compilation that focuses on sustainability, ocean awareness and the infinite beauty of the sea,” the film is an effective appeal to preserve the world’s endangered oceans.

Outspoken and visionary, Dame Vivienne Westwood has long looked out for the environment as part of her personal manifesto. Announcing last week a second collaboration with the International Trade Center and their Ethical Fashion Africa Project, her latest range of brightly colored bags and accessories will now be widely available on the YOOX site. A short film directed by Juergen Teller that premiered in Florence showed Vivienne teaching her skills to locals in Nairobi. In her inimitable way, she announced that the sales from these bags go towards helping impoverished Africans, but the making of them provides work “not charity.”

Asos, the online fashion brand that is slowly but surely establishing itself as the web’s most expansive fashion presence announces their second Asos Africa collection this month. The first, launched earlier this year was made by small producer groups in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa and is dedicated to creating jobs in underprivileged communities there. Sure to be a hit after Michelle Obama was spotted this week wearing a sleeveless print cotton shirt from the line, if you don’t believe in the “Obama effect” just ask J.Crew.

Emerging style icon, Kate Middleton is well known for her love of mass market retailers or what the British call “high street” chains. One of her favorites, Whistles, has just has launched its first capsule eco collection in conjunction with Ciel, the award-winning, sustainable label. The collection is comprised of eight beach wear pieces in prints inspired by heritage brand Liberty. Whether you like her style or not, she is fast becoming one of the worlds most photographed women.  If she were to decide to wear one of those pieces during her visit to Los Angeles next week, she’d be having an ethical “effect” all her own.

Image: viviennewestwood.co.uk, Kate Middleton in The Telegraph

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