London Fashion Week 2009: Fairtrade Fashion

Photos: londonfashionweek.co.uk

By Fiona Correia

The British Fashion Council (BFC) launched its sixth season of Estethica at London Fashion week (LFW) this February. From February 21 to 24 the infamous LFW brought glitz and glamour to the capital once again, and for its sixth season running paid homage to the eco friendly side of designer fashion with its resident ethical group Estethica.



Estethica is dedicated to launching new designers, who are committed to using organic, fair trade or recycled materials, processes of manufacture, distribution and even disposal. Thirty seven ethical designers showcased their environmentally sustainable clothing on the catwalk last week. Danish label Noir was notably the most popular eco friendly designer at the event.



Peter Ingwersen the founder of Noir and Bllack Noir, their sister label, swears that the Swiss factories he uses to dye his clothes in, filter the used water so thoroughly, that by the end of the filtration process the water can be drank. The beauty of Noir is not only in Ingwersen’s eco-friendly conscience, but in the designs themselves. Unlike many predecessors of fair trade clothing, Noir is sharp, sexy and very on trend, worlds away from the tye-dyed ponchos usually associated with ethical fashion.


On the catwalk Noir’s models strutted in high buckled platforms with sleek hair and dark smokey eyes. The clothing varied from skinny tailored trousers, velvet box jackets and high waisted leather pencil skirts, to draped chiffon tops and billowing strapless silk dresses. The colour palette was predominately dark, with lots of seductive black leather, liquid satins and organic cottons.

“We all look to inspire the industry and consumers that sexiness, luxury, fashion, corporate social responsibility and ethics can work in harmony together without compromising look and style,” Ingwersen explained backstage at LFW last week.

Designer labels like Noir show the growing trend in fair trade fashion, with worries about global warming the world is now opening its eyes to more sustainable means of living, from the food we eat, the transport we take and even the clothes we wear.