On Sunday (28th February), UCL’s Modo Fashion Society hosted a green fashion show. It was clear from the evidence of loose threads and barely disguised safety pins on some of the clothes that no sweat shops had been used, but then the joy of student fashion shows is knowing that the students themselves have been up the night before sweating over their sewing machines. So maybe in a literal sense, student fashion shows are the worst example in the industry of cheap labour that slaves for little or no reward.

Anyway, I digress. A handful of outfits were made from clearly recycled materials – Zena Dhanak created a beautiful pleated skirt made from recycled newspapers and Rebecca Odedun’s mesmerising collection featured a dress (see pic) with Sainsbury’s carrier bags tied into bows and another dress which shimmered with ring-pulls from drinks cans.

Others opted for more unusual materials – Dalila Lecky’s collection focused on zips as the key feature of each outfit and Shabnam Spiers’ outstanding pieces used hair as the focal point, with braids wound into epaulettes (see pic) on a dress and long hair draped into cape-like formations.

The designers who opted to focus on knitwear made a wise move, with Michaela Moores, Giulia Biffis (see pic) and Katie Horrocks producing incredibly wearable pieces.
 

However with many of the other designers, their ‘green’ principles weren’t quite as obvious. Perhaps the cottons they sourced were pesticide-free or the silks and laces that they used were produced in factories that pay their workers a decent wage, but it would have been helpful had this information been provided in the accompanying show brochure.

As to what differentiates a student fashion show from something that you would see on the catwalks of London Fashion Week? Well that would be the number of nationalities that were represented by the models at this show. And it could only be a good thing if the fashion industry picked up on this trend for starters… 

http://www.wix.com/uclumodo/Modo-Fashion-Society